Harvard College was founded in 1636 by the Puritans, initially with the primary purpose of training their ministers. By the 18th century a solid majority of students were training for secular careers, and represented a spectrum of Protestant denominations. By the 19th century, small numbers of Catholics were attending and, in keeping with the increased secularization of the college, found their beliefs increasingly tolerated. Meanwhile, successive waves of immigration to Harvard's hometown of Cambridge from predominantly Catholic countries (starting with Ireland in the 19th century) created an increasingly Catholic local populace. By the 20th century, after also absorbing immigrants from Italy and Portugal, Cambridge became a majority Catholic town, in which Harvard was an island of Protestant ascendancy (albeit with a growing Catholic minority of its own, which today is about 25% of the student body).

Much of this book focuses on the founding and history of St. Paul's parish in Cambridge, which has been the base for the Catholic chaplaincy at Harvard since the latter portion of the 19th century. St. Paul's also is noted as the home of the Boston archdiocesan choir school, and draws worshippers from a broad geographic radius because of the splendor of its liturgical music.

Additionally, St. Paul's has been the focal point for dialogue between Catholics and non-Catholics at Harvard, and the vehicle for a great number of conversions to Catholicism, including those of people from eminent Protestant families. This story is a major theme in the book. It also tells of the Jesuit Father Feeney who, after establishing an independent base in Harvard Square loosely associated with St. Paul's, won many converts in the 30's and 40's.

This book must have been a labor of love for the author. He was an undergraduate at Harvard, and attended St. Paul's at that time. He has taught classics at the university level since then, and currently is devoting most of his energies to establishing a Catholic university (Eastern Rite) in Ukraine.

Translated from the french, this small book is an ideal introduction about the artist's life for children seven to ten years old. Each chapter is approximately two pages long, illustrated with Cezanne's art work and the story of his life. The titles of the chapters are in french with the appropriate translations.

Your child will enjoy this book of pictures and even adults will find themselves intrigued by his work. The french is ideal in introducing your child to a foreign language through art. Your child will also learn about the one of the great masters in western art. I highly recommend this as a gift book that your child will cherish for years.

I really enjoyed reading this book, although I didn't completely agree with all the philosophy presented within. There is something to the argument that there are other forms of understanding other than rationalistic forms of thought, and that science can never be completely objective, and also that our society has become too centralised and that is due in part to rationalistic and inhuman economic models (making people commodities and "numbers"). But at this point in time, nothing better than rationalistic thinking has ever been presented, people critique science but offer nothing equal to replace it. Besides all that, postmodernism is fluff, a bunch of ivory tower intellectuals talking to themselves in a language only they can understand. But that's just my opinion, read the book and form your own opinions, it will get you started on thinking about one of the most important debates in modern philosophy.