The first and only full-length biography of one ofthe most charismatic spiritual innovators of the twentieth century.

Through his widely popular books and lectures, Alan Watts (1915-1973) did more to introduce Eastern philosophy and religion to Western minds than any figure before or since. Watts touched the lives of many. He was a renegade Zen teacher, an Anglican priest, a lecturer, an academic, an entertainer, a leader of the San Francisco renaissance, and the author of more than thirty books, including The Way of Zen, Psychotherapy East and West and The Spirit of Zen.

Monica Furlong followed Watts's travels from his birthplace in England to the San Francisco Bay Area where he ultimately settled, conducting in-depth interviews with his family, colleagues, and intimate friends, to provide an analysis of the intellectual, cultural, and deeply personal influences behind this truly extraordinary life.

The distinctive voices of women at prayer throughout the ages and around the world—compiled by the biographer of Therese of Lisieux. This beautiful book celebrates the rich variety of ways women around the world have called out to the Divine—with words of joy, praise, gratitude, wonder, petition, longing, and even anger—from the ancient world up to our own day. The prayers come from women of nearly every religious or spiritual tradition East and West, including ancient Greeks, Australian Aboriginals, medieval Christian mystics, Native Americans, Jewish poets, and Buddhist nuns. Together they provide an eloquent expression of women's inner lives that will resonate with modern readers, both women and men. Monica Furlong's intriguing commentary and insights make this a book to treasure and share.

The first and only full-length biography of one of the most charismatic spiritual innovators of the twentieth century. Through his widely popular books and lectures, Alan Watts (1915-1973) did more to introduce Eastern philosophy and religion to Western minds than any figure before or since. Watts touched the lives of many. He was a renegade Zen teacher, an Anglican priest, a lecturer, an academic, an entertainer, a leader of the San Francisco renaissance, and the author of more than thirty books, including The Way of Zen, Psychotherapy East and West and The Spirit of Zen. Monica Furlong followed Watts's travels from his birthplace in England to the San Francisco Bay Area where he ultimately settled, conducting in-depth interviews with his family, colleagues, and intimate friends, to provide an analysis of the intellectual, cultural, and deeply personal influences behind this truly extraordinary life.

The women mystics of medieval Europe represent the very first feminine voices heard in a world where women were nearly silent. As such, they are striking and unusual, strange, powerful and urgent. Monica Furlong uses key selections from among these women's own writings and writings about them by their contemporaries, along with her own assessment of them, to open up their contributions to a wide popular audience. The eleven women represented in this anthology were housewives, visionaries, abbesses, beguines, recluses, and nuns who wrote between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. They include: Heloise, the scholar and abbess, whose letters to Abelard are treasure of medieval literature. Hildegard of Bingen, the visionary Rhineland nun. Clare of Assisi, the close friend of Saint Francis and founder of the Poor Clares. Catherine of Siena, an influential spiritual counselor whose book, Dialogue, consists of a debate between herself and God. Julian of Norwich, the English hermitess who spent the greater part of her life meditating on and coming to understand the striking visions she received as a young woman. and many others...