Dorothy Day (Unabridged)

Robert Coles first met Dorothy Day over 35 years ago when, as a medical student, he worked in one of her Catholic Worker soup kitchens. He remained close to this inspiring and controversial woman until her death in 1980. His book, an intellectual and psychological portrait, confronts candidly the central puzzles of her life. Day was a sophisticated Greenwich Village novelist and reporter who converted to Catholicism; she was also a single mother who raised her child in a most unorthodox "family". She had struggles with sexuality, loneliness, and pride, and she combined devout religious conservatism with radical politics. This intense portrait is based on many years of conversation and correspondence, as well as tape-recorded interviews.