To Dwell in Peace

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

One of the most seminal of counterculture leaders in the 1960s and, arguably, the most notorious of Jesuits, Berrigan recounts his life in this moving, reflective and poetic autobiography. Beginning with his strong-willed family``The ill luck principle applied here with a vengeance''he recalls his roots, his origins among a people who knew hardship. His entrance into the Jesuit community was both a withdrawal from that life and a wondrous opening to another. In the long period of preparation for priesthood, Berrigan blossomed as teacher, poet, charismatic leader of college students, notably on the Cornell campus. Paying tribute to Dorothy Day and to her style of Christian community that influenced him, he describes his soul as ``moving in a contrary wind.'' His acts of civil disobedience with his brother Philip, also a priest, their arrests and convictions, are well known. Today, Berrigan, a member of the Jesuit community in New York City, remains actively engaged in social causes. In this assessment of his life, the 66-year-old author shows that his fidelity to the precepts of Ignatius Loyola endures. Photos not seen by PW. (December 16)

Library Journal

With humility, deep insight, and poetic sensitivity of perception and expression, Berrigan gives the story of his life. He describes his early years as the fifth of six sons, his entrance into the Jesuits, his growing social activism while a chaplain at Cornell, his sacrifice of security and freedom to protest the Vietnam War in an act of civil disobedience, his further civil disobedience as a fugitive, and finally his increasing sensitivity to gay liberation and to AIDS. The biography illustrates the development of personal conscience and integrity, and especially the roles his mother and younger brother played in that development. Highly recommended.Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood College, Farmville, Va.