Dancing in the water of life : seeking peace in the hermitage

Synopsis

In the fifth volume of the acclaimed journals of Thomas Merton, the renowned monk and writer immerses in the revolutionary ideas of the sixties and begins to live full-time at his Gethsemani hermitage.

Documenting the Most Turbulent and Exuberant period of the sixties, Merton responds passionately to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights activism, the Vietnam War, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He emerges as a free spirit, challenging the powers that be in Gethsemani and Washington, while exploring every spiritual, literary, and personal link to a more meaningful life and embracing the ecstasies and challenges of solitude. Merton continues to fascinate, and this year, the thirtieth anniversary of his death, he will be more widely examined and celebrated than ever.

"Making his struggles and his happiness practically tangible on these pages, Merton was never a better writer than in his journals. His gifts are as abundantly clear in this volume as in its predecessors". -- Publishers Weekly

"{{D}}elightful ... brilliant social, political and personal commentaries". -- New York Times Book Review