A THOMAS MERTON READER

This full- as well as representative- selection of the writings of Thomas Merton appropriately begins and ends with passages from his best known The Seven Storey Mountain (although Merton, in his introduction, repudiates the false image this book created). The collection is a ""summing up of twenty five years of thought"" and the changes in his spiritual and philosophical perspective, and he directs the reader to the works of his ""fourth"" period which seem the most significant to him. The introduction includes a short definition of his own philosophy and the paradoxical acquisition of peace. This reflects the entire spectrum of the writings of this great creative contemplative and will have a permanent place.