For centuries, Augustine's writings have moved and fascinated readers. With the keen eye of a writer whose own intellectual analysis won him a Pulitzer Prize, Gary Wills examines this famed fourth-century bishop and seminal thinker whose grounding in classical philosophy informed his interpretation of Christian doctrine. Saint Augustine explores Augustine's thought as well as the everyday man who set pen to parchment. It challenges many misconceptions, including those regarding his early sexual excesses. It portrays Augustine as being "peripheral in his day, a provincial on the margins of classical culture" who didn't even know Greek. Here is a lively and incisive portrait of a man who helped shape Western thinking. "Wills's agile mind matches the agility of Saint Augustine. He presents his subject with candor and with empathy."—New York Times Book Review
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"Found a used copy at the Chapel Hill library booksale... A quick, sympathetic introduction to the storied doctor. A good introduction for undergrads and those laboring under caricatures of Augustine as repressed, but I still prefer Brown's biography."
— Abram (4 out of 5 stars)
" I really only read about his teen years---i guess that's all i wanted to know. "
— Katie, 11/30/2013" If you want a good biography on St Augustine, THIS IS NOT IT! The Penguin Lives Series is supposed to be a total snapshot of the subject, instead Wills gets really lost in pyscho-analysis leaving the reader without a biography of St Augustine. "
— Drew, 8/31/2013" Glad to get more perspective on Saint Augustine, who was a formative figure for Wills, one of my favorite authors. "
— Steve, 8/18/2013" Pretty standard stuff nothing to get excited about...but a nice introductory feel... "
— Jim, 2/27/2013" Short, pithy, well-reasoned analysis of Augustine - read as a prelude to Confessions to get context. "
— David, 1/22/2013" See review written for this book but accidentally allocated to 'St Augustin's conversion' (not the book I read) "
— Ann, 1/14/2013" interesting, unsure how accurrate and complete, better to go with GKC's excellent bio "
— Erik, 8/16/2012" Wills' slim book was a helpful commentary on Augustine's "Confessions". "
— Theresa, 6/20/2012" I listened to this one on CD, which probably made it easier. The style was a little dry, but parts of it were very interesting and it was written as a short biography. If you are interested in St. Augustine, this gives a good, brief overview of his life. "
— Elynn, 5/30/2012Garry Wills is a historian and the author of the New York Times bestsellers What Jesus Meant, Papal Sin, Why I Am a Catholic, and Why Priests?, among others. A frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and other publications, Wills is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.