In Letter no.89, Bernard writes to his friend, William of St Thierry, "as I drew myself in my letter to you, so I really am.." That sweet admission characterizes this book. An excellent translation that really LISTENS to Bernard's voice in its 560+ pages. A short essential Introduction by Beverly Mayne Kienzle helps guide the reader toward aspects of interest surrounding Bernard in the letters -- events in Cistercian history, admonitions to his monks, letters on the liturgy,etc. -- and discusses the place held by private letters in monastic literature. The translation lets Bernard live, and live he does! The 'oracle of Christendom' shows himself the most human of humanists, passionate and nearly wild, founding seventy monasteries, securing the recognition of Innocent II, creating the Kinghts Templar, and pouring his preaching to kindle the fire for a second crusade. This book's a worthwhile place to start tracking mediaeval history, by tracking a colossus. Spiffy chronology, bibliography, and table of letters, recipients & dates makes the book easy to access for specific results. The last of the Fathers of the Church, Bernard's real light lies just under the pages, and that's tough for a translator; here's a translation that understands and discloses that essence. As welcomed and vital a book as Gilson's 'Mystical Theology of St Bernard.'