Jacques and Raïssa Maritain – Beggars for Heaven

"[Jacques and Raïssa Maritain's] lives spanned the period running from the Dreyfus case in 1894 to the death of Jacques Maritain in 1973. And since they had been involved, personally and intellectually, in all the agitations of this momentous period in both French and world history, this account of their lives offers a fascinating panorama of the clashing ideas and ideals that still echo in our own time." —The New Republic, January 30, 2006

“ . . . Outstanding translation.” --Catholic Library World, Volume 76, Number 3, March 2006

"First published ten years ago, this was the first true biography of Jacques Maritain, and it has had no rivals since. . . His complete works in French have been published, and there is an English collected works in progress. Barré's biography has given new stimulus to this welcome longevity, and Bernard Doering has put us in his debt with his elegant translation." —First Things(November 2006)

“The translation by Bernard Doering, himself a scholar of Maritain, well conveys the stylish, sometimes impressionistic prose of the original, and is a pleasure to read. Highly recommended to all academic libraries and devotees of the French philosopher.” --Catholic Library World, Volume 76, Number 3, March 2006

"Jean-Luc Barré's book is an important contribution to understanding Jacques and Raïssa Maritain, and it has been rightly recognized as providing insights into the life and character of a couple who, for a time, seemed to have their finger on the pulse of intellectual life and culture in mid-twentieth century western Europe and the Americas. Bernard Doering makes Barré's work accessible to a wide audience by providing a generally accessible, fluid, and readable translation. The greatest virtue of Barré's book is his ability to bring to life something of the early life and times of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain -- particularly of a youth that Jacques Maritain himself seemed to prefer to leave largely shrouded.... Doering's translation is clear and fluid, and he has rightly sought to give a fluid, rather than a strictly literal, translation of Barré's idiom. Those who know little of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain will learn much from this book; those interested in the arts and letters in France between the wars will learn much as well." —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, May 2006

"Bernard Doering has done an extremely admirable job translating Barré's prose. . . Barré's book serves as a good foundation. His extensive use of the Maritain archives at Kolbsheim will doubtless aid future scholars." —Religion and Literature(Summer 2006)