For For readers interested in Merton on Native American cultures and justice; short essays of his last years.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
2 of 5worth a look
For the researcher
3 of 5worth your time
Difficulty
2 of 5moderate
Late essays on Native American cultures and their destruction, linked to civil rights and the Vietnam war.
How it proceeds
Philosophic2 of 5
Scriptural0 of 5
Experiential1 of 5
Sociological5 of 5
Historical4 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
A short collection of Merton's essays on Native American cultures, published by Unicorn Press in 1976 (71 pages) with a foreword by Dorothy Day and a woodblock by Rita Corbin. Written in his last years, the essays draw parallels between the history of the destruction of indigenous peoples, including the story of Ishi, the last of the Yahi of California, and the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam, and they reflect his commitment to understanding between religions and cultures.
