Dorothy Day Popular Books
Dorothy Day Biography & Facts
Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known political radical among American Catholics. Day's conversion is described in her 1952 autobiography, The Long Loneliness. Day was also an active journalist, and described her social activism in her writings. In 1917 she was imprisoned as a member of suffragist Alice Paul's nonviolent Silent Sentinels. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist movement that combines direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. She practiced civil disobedience, which led to additional arrests in 1955, 1957, and in 1973 at the age of seventy-five. As part of the Catholic Worker Movement, Day co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper in 1933, and served as its editor from 1933 until her death in 1980. In this newspaper, Day advocated the Catholic economic theory of distributism, which she considered a third way between capitalism and socialism. Pope Benedict XVI used her conversion story as an example of how to "journey towards faith… in a secularized environment." In an address before the United States Congress, Pope Francis included her in a list of four exemplary Americans who "buil[t] a better future". The Catholic Church has opened the cause for Day's possible canonization, which was accepted by the Holy See for investigation. For that reason, the Church refers to her with the title of Servant of God. Biography Early years Dorothy May Day was born on November 8, 1897, in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. She was born into a family described by one biographer as "solid, patriotic, and middle class". Her father, John Day, was a Tennessee native of Irish heritage, while her mother, Grace Satterlee, a native of upstate New York, was of English ancestry. Her parents were married in an Episcopal church in Greenwich Village. She had three brothers (including Donald S. Day) and a sister and was the third oldest child. In 1904, her father, a sportswriter devoted to horse racing, took a position with a newspaper in San Francisco. The family lived in Oakland, California, until the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 destroyed the newspaper's facilities, and her father lost his job. From the spontaneous response to the earthquake's devastation, the self-sacrifice of neighbors in a time of crisis, Day drew a lesson about individual action and the Christian community. The family relocated to Chicago. Day's parents were nominal Christians who rarely attended church. As a young child, she showed a marked religious streak, reading the Bible frequently. When she was ten, she started to attend the Church of Our Saviour, an Episcopal church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, after its rector convinced her mother to let Day's brothers join the church choir. She was taken with the liturgy and its music. She studied the catechism and was baptized and confirmed in that church in 1911. Day was an avid reader in her teens, particularly fond of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. She worked from one book to another, noting Jack London's mention of Herbert Spencer in Martin Eden, and then from Spencer to Darwin and Huxley. She learned about anarchy and extreme poverty from Peter Kropotkin, who promoted the belief that only cooperation and mutual aid could create a truly free society. She also enjoyed Russian literature while in university studies, especially Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Gorky. Day read a lot of socially conscious work, which gave her a background for her future; it helped bolster her support for and involvement in social activism. Day graduated from Robert Waller High School in 1914. In 1914, Day attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign on a scholarship. She was a reluctant scholar. Her reading was chiefly in a Christian radical social direction. She avoided campus social life, and supported herself rather than rely on money from her father, buying all her clothing and shoes from discount stores. She left the university after two years, and moved to New York City. Social activism She settled on the Lower East Side of New York and worked on the staff of several Socialist publications, including The Liberator, The Masses, and The Call. She "smilingly explained to impatient socialists that she was 'a pacifist even in the class war.'" Years later, Day described how she was pulled in different directions: "I was only eighteen, so I wavered between my allegiance to Socialism, Syndicalism (of the Industrial Workers of the World – I.W.W.) and Anarchism. When I read Tolstoy I was an Anarchist. My allegiance to The Call kept me a Socialist, although a left-wing one, and my Americanism inclined me to the I.W.W. movement." She celebrated the February Revolution in Russia in 1917, the overthrow of the monarchy and establishment of a reformist government. In November 1917, she was arrested for picketing at the White House on behalf of women's suffrage as part of a campaign called the Silent Sentinels organized by Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party. Sentenced to 30 days in jail, she served 15 days before being released, ten of them on a hunger strike. Day spent several months in Greenwich Village, where she became close to Eugene O'Neill, whom she later credited with having produced "an intensification of the religious sense that was in me." She had a love affair of several years with Mike Gold, a radical writer who later became a prominent Communist. Later she credited Gold with being "indirect involved" in the beginning of the Catholic Worker Movement. Day maintained friendships with such prominent American Communists as Anna Louise Strong and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn who became the head of the Communist Party USA. Initially, Day lived a bohemian life. In 1920, after ending an unhappy love affair with Lionel Moise, and after having an abortion that was "the great tragedy of her life", she married Berkeley Tobey in a civil ceremony. She spent the better part of a year with him in Europe, removed from politics, focusing on art and literature, and writing a semi-autobiographical novel, The Eleventh Virgin (1924), based on her affair with Moise. In its "Epilogue", she tried to draw lessons about the status of women from her experience: "I thought I was a free and emancipated young woman and found out I wasn't at all. …Freedom is just a modernity gown, a new trapping that we women affect to capture the man we want." She ended her marriage to Tobey upon their return to the United States. Day later called The Eleventh Virgin a "very bad book". The sale of the movie rights to the novel gave her $2,500, and she bought a beach cottage as a writing retreat on Staten Island, New York. Soon she found a new lover,.... Discover the Dorothy Day popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dorothy Day books.
Best Seller Dorothy Day Books of 2024
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The Last Days of Dorothy Parker
Marion MeadeDorothy Parker biographer Marion Meade shares insight into the last days in the life of Dorothy Parkerthe horrible and the hilariousincluding her colorful friendship with Lillian H...
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The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames
Justine Cowan“Far from growing up in the wealthy, foxhunting circles she had always suggested, her mother had in fact been raised in a foundling hospital for the children of unwed women.” Edit...
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Dorothy Day
Patrick JordanDorothy Day has been described as the most significant, interesting, and influential person in the history of American Catholicism." Outside The Catholic Worker (which she edited f...
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Mothers
Cath WeeksFor fans of Liane Moriarty and the awardwinning TV series Big Little Lies, this is an emotional, gripping and suspenseful family drama of secrets, betrayal and intrigue...Would you...
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The Long Loneliness
Dorothy DayThe compelling autobiography of a remarkable Catholic woman, sainted by many, who championed the rights of the poor in America’s inner cities.When Dorothy Day died in 1980, the New...
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Dorothy Day
Ashley BeckA controversial figure in life, and even in death, there are many who believe Dorothy Day, who died in 1980, to be a modern day saint. An American journalist and political activist...
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Dorothy Day
John Loughery & Blythe Randolph“Magisterial and glorious” (Pittsburgh PostGazette), the first full authoritative biography of Dorothy DayAmerican icon, radical pacifist, Catholic convert, and advocate for the ho...
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Sunset Gun
Dorothy ParkerNow available as a standalone edition, the famous humorist’s second collection of poetry ranges from lighthearted selfdeprecation to gleefully acidtongued satire and dark comedy.On...
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The Secret
Kathryn HughesTHE MEMORY BOX, THE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM KATHRYN HUGHES, IS AVAILABLE NOW 'Riveting' Lesley Pearse on The Letter. 'Gripping' Good Housekeeping on The Secret. From the #1 bestselli...
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The Paris Library
Janet Skeslien CharlesAn instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestsellerbased on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War IIThe Paris L...
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Dorothy Day
Terrence C. WrightEn esta introducción a la vida y al pensamiento de Dorothy Day, una de las periodistas católicas más importantes del siglo XX, Terrence Wright consigue dibujar con sencillez y maes...
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The Soul Of Kindness
Elizabeth Taylor & Philip HensherINTRODUCED BY PHILIP HENSHER'Elizabeth Taylor is finally being recognised as an important British author: an author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth. As a reader...
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A Wreath Of Roses
Elizabeth Taylor & Helen DunmoreINTRODUCED BY HELEN DUNMOREElizabeth Taylor's darkest novel . . . She writes with a sensuous richness of language that draws the reader down the most shadowy paths . . . Extremely ...
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The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames
Justine Cowan“Far from growing up in the wealthy, foxhunting circles she had always suggested, her mother had in fact been raised in a foundling hospital for the children of unwed women.” Edit...
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30-Day Journey with Dorothy Day
Coleman FanninEnrich each day with wisdom from our greatest spiritual thinkers. Through brief daily readings and reflections, the 30Day Journey series invites readers to be inspired and transfor...
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Great American Wit
Robert E. Drennan & Heywood Hale BrounThe perfect gift for the snarky literature fan in your life! “Stop looking at the world through rosecolored bifocals.” “His mind is so open, the wind whistles through it.” “You ca...
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Dorothy Dandridge
Donald BogleAvailable once again, the definitive biography of the pioneering Black performerthe first nominated for a Best Actress Academy Awardwho broke new ground in Hollywood and helped tra...
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The House on First Street
Julia ReedAfter fifteen years of living like a vagabond on her reporter's schedule, Julia Reed got married and bought a house in the historic Garden District. Four weeks after she moved in, ...
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Undaunted
Jon GauntMillions know him as a loudmouth radio shockjock and Sun columnist. Yet, in his life Jon Gaunt has had to overcome unimaginable hardship, solitude, bankruptcy and despair. His moth...
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Seeking the Common Good through Public Policy
Gary E. MaringThe concept of “the common good” is central to many religious faiths and goes hand in hand with the Golden Rule of doing unto others as we would want done unto ourselves. Gary E. M...
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Spiritualities of Social Engagement
Roger Haight, Sj, Alfred Pach & Amanda Avila KaminskiThis volume considers two authors who represent different but complementary responses to social injustice and human degradation. The writings of Walter Rauschenbusch and Dorothy Da...
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Dorothy Day
Patrick JordanBy any measure, Dorothy Day lived a fascinating life. She was a journalist, activist, single mother, convert, Catholic laywoman, and cofounder of the Catholic Worker Movement. A li...
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Stolen
Susan LewisLucy Winters' parents have always been there for her. Loving, gentle and kind they have given her everything she could have wished for. Now, estranged from her husband, she has mov...
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The Life You Save May Be Your Own
Paul ElieThe story of four modern American Catholics who made literature out of their search for GodIn the midtwentieth century four American Catholics came to believe that the best way to ...
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Dorothy Day
Phyllis ZaganoA twentiethcentury Catholic activist, founder of the Catholic Worker movement and its newspaper, "The Catholic Worker", and candidate for Sainthood are just a few descriptions of D...
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Orphan Train
Christina Baker KlineThe #1 New York Times BestsellerNow featuring a sneak peek at Christina's forthcoming novel The Exiles, coming August 2020.“A lovely novel about the search for family that als...
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The Women Who Made New York
Julie Scelfo & Hallie HealdAn illuminating, elegant history of New York City, told through the stories of the women who made it the most exciting and influential metropolis in the world Read any history of N...
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The Poems of Dorothy Molloy
Dorothy MolloyDorothy Molloy was a star in the making when Faber prepared her debut Hare Soup (2004) for publication, before tragedy struck, and she died four days before advance copies arriv...
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All the Way to Heaven
Dorothy Day“The publication of the letters of Dorothy Day is a significant event in the history of Christian spirituality.” Jim Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints Dorothy Day,...
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The Xmas Factor
Annie SandersThank goodness Christmas comes just once a year...! 'A heartwarming and sparkly comedy ideal for the time of year' WOMAN'S OWN'A funny festive read' HEAT'A book you'll enjoy long ...
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Faith and Feminism
Helen LaKelly HuntWhy do so many women of faith have such a strong aversion to feminism? And why do so many feminists have an ardent mistrust of religion? These questions are at the heart of Helen L...
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The Anti-Inflammatory Family Cookbook
Stefania PatinellaTransform the way your family eats with this easytouse, childfriendly guide to antiinflammatory eating, including 100 simple and tasty recipes the whole family will love.The antiin...
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Zelda
Nancy Milford“Profound, overwhelmingly moving . . . a richly complex love story.” New York TimesAcclaimed biographer Nancy Milford brings to life the tormented, elusive personality o...
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Dorothy Day
Maura D. ShawThis engaging introduction to Dorothy Day will show you how one person can accomplish big things. This colorful book introduces you to the world of ...
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The Duty of Delight
Dorothy DayFor almost fifty years, through her tireless service to the poor and her courageous witness for peace, Dorothy Day offered an example of the gospel in action. Now the publication o...
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Bowery Blues
Jack CookIntroduction: the author affirms that the germ of this work was Dorothy Days direction to get his pieces collected.Dedicatory poem O For A Voice by William BlakeA Tribute to Doroth...
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Dorothy Day
Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D.A twentiethcentury Catholic activist, founder of the Catholic Worker movement and its newspaper, The Catholic Worker, and candidate for Sainthood are just a few descriptions of Dor...
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Unruly Saint
D.L. MayfieldIn 1933, in the shadow of the Great Depression, Dorothy Day started the most prominent Catholic radical movement in United States history, the Catholic Worker Movement, a storied o...
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The Wife
Meg WolitzerNow a major motion picture starring Glenn Close in her Golden Globe–winning role!One of bestselling author Meg Wolitzer’s most beloved booksan “acerbically funny” (Entertainment We...
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The Girls Left Behind
Emily GunnisNO ONE WANTED TO END UP AT MORGATE HOUSE. BUT THE GIRLS HAD NOWHERE ELSE TO GO . . . 'The thrilling, heartbreaking, and shocking story of dark secrets, twisted lives, lies, and man...
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Together
Julie CohenRICHARD AND JUDY SUMMER BOOK CLUB PICK 2018'This big, clever, tender and twisty love story reminded me of One Day & The Time Traveler's Wife' Erin Kelly, author of He Said, She...