Robert Meagher is Professor of Humanities, Hampshire College.

[A] fine book . . . rich, literate, beautifully written. . . . Meagher puts it well in his final chapter: the great teacher is one who excites power. Plotinus is one; Augustine another. . . . and the unquestionable merit of Meagher's book is that it too excites power. --Robert J. O'Connell, Fordham University

Meagher's work is extremely insightful and original. . . . The Augustine he describes is the one who stands at the origin of autobiography in Western culture and at the roots of contemporary existentialism where man has became once again 'a question to himself.' --John Dunne, The University of Notre Dame

That Meagher helps us to come closer to Augustine is one of the many virtues of his book. . . . Meagher's book, in a thoroughly Augustinian spirit, is a work of love, and thus kindles love in return. . . . Will be of interest to all readers who are concerned with the possibilities of spirit in our time. --William Barrett