This closely followed, undemonstrative biography presents The Life of Danilo Dolci whom Huxley called ""the ideal twentieth century saint"" and who in his role of activist-idealist, closely resembles Gandhi. His native Sicilians have been embarrassed by him (""a professional misery man""); his church has repudiated him to some extent; and surprisingly, he has been permitted to survive by the Mafia whom he crowded at one point in his career. An extremly intellectual young man, Dolce grew up to feel the ""need of action"" and first, in 1952, withdrew to a fishing town to improve its abysmal conditions (infants starved to death; a visit to the local brothel cost six cents). There he attempted to reconcile the necessity of being both a practical, practising technologist and a figure of faith-- the dichotomy in his life; his activities widened-- he organized fasts and demonstrations; he was arrested, jailed and submitted to a Kafkaesque trial; his last years have been spent in lecturing, writing, within and without the country and he has had wide attention, not only from the leading Italian intellectuals but the world press. The title is from Danilo's own words-- ""There is God in these people like the fire that smolders under the ashes"" and this book, extensively, is based on acquaintance with the man and his work and an extensive bibliography.