A fresh look at the life of the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement 30 years after her death.

Dorothy Day (1897-1980), founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and one of the most prophetic voices in the American Catholic Church, has recently been proposed as a candidate for canonization. In this lavishly illustrated biography, Jim Forest provides a compelling portrait of her heroic efforts to live out the radical message of the Gospel for our time.

A journalist and social reformer in her youth, Day surprised her friends with the decision in 1927 to enter the Roman Catholic Church. In the Catholic Worker, which she launched in 1933, she found a way to combine her faith with her compelling commitment to the poor and social justice. Day and those who joined her devoted themselves to the Works of Mercy while struggling to create a new society "where it is easier to be good." An ardent pacifist, Day was frequently arrested for her protests in the cause of peace and for the rights of workers.

Drawing on Day's recently published diaries and letters, Forest chronicles her extraordinary journey, with special stress on the unique spiritual vision that underlay her dramatic witness.