Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century

Product Description “Magisterial and glorious” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), the first full authoritative biography of Dorothy Day—American icon, radical pacifist, Catholic convert, and advocate for the homeless—is “a vivid account of her political and religious development” (Karen Armstrong, The New York Times).After growing up in a conservative middle-class Republican household and working several years as a left-wing journalist, Dorothy Day converted to Catholicism and became an anomaly in American life for the next fifty years. As an orthodox Catholic, political radical, and a rebel who courted controversy, she attracted three generations of admirers. A believer in civil disobedience, Day went to jail several times protesting the nuclear arms race. She was critical of capitalism and US foreign policy, and as skeptical of modern liberalism as political conservatism. Her protests began in 1917, leading to her arrest during the suffrage demonstration outside President Wilson’s White House. In 1940 she spoke in Congress against the draft and urged young men not to register. She told audiences in 1962 that the US was as much to blame for the Cuban missile crisis as Cuba and the USSR. She refused to hear any criticism of the pope, though she sparred with American bishops and priests who lived in well-appointed rectories while tolerating racial segregation in their parishes. Dorothy Day is the exceptional biography of a dedicated modern-day pacifist, an outspoken advocate for the poor, and a lifelong anarchist. This definitive and insightful account is “a monumental exploration of the life, legacy, and spirituality of the Catholic activist” (Spirituality & Practice). Review “An important and timely contribution to present debates, as the authors highlight stands Day took that have particular resonance in today’s divided America. . . . We can be grateful to Loughery and Randolph for reviving a voice for our times.” —Samantha Power, The Washington Post “The authors render their subject in precise and meticulous detail, generating a vivid account of her political and religious development.” —Karen Armstrong, New York Times “A good biography holds your attention; a great one transcends its subject and sheds light on the myriad forces bearing down on an individual at a particular point in time. Dorothy Day belongs, luminously, to the second [category].” —Los Angeles Review of Books "Magisterial and glorious; it captures intimate details and offers new insights into Day’s colorful life even as it places her in the broader context of radical movements and the landscape of causes during the 20th century...it may be that Mr. Loughery and Ms. Randolph have given us the definitive biography." —Pittsburgh Post Gazette “[A] masterpiece . . . John Loughery and Blythe Randolph achieve wonders in their life story of one of Francis I’s four morally exemplary Americans. . . . Biographers must be imaginative researchers, sophisticated thinkers and – most importantly – fluid writers. If they can illuminate all of the nuances of the eras their subject inhabited, their storytelling can become compelling history. In the kind of literary alchemy most authors can only dream of, John Loughery and Blythe Randolph have blended all of these elements to produce this masterful biography of Dorothy Day.” —The Guardian "This engagingly written biography illuminates a figure who infuriated as many as she inspired." —Wall Street Journal “Loughery and Randolph have pulled off a miracle here: weaving the contradictory strands of Dorothy Day’s life—from hard-drinking, free-loving bohemian to ascetic Catholic activist—into one compelling narrative. The result is a surprisingly intimate history of 20th century American radicalism—and a timely reminder that, for some Christians, religion was and remains a moral obligation to serve poorest of the poor.” —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed “A religious voice for the disadvantaged, a pacifis