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An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 271.71042264
Format: Bargain Price
Label: PublicAffairs
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 258
Publication Date: February 22, 2006
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Studio: PublicAffairs
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Editorial Review:
In 1960, five young men arrived at the imposing gates of Parkminster, the largest center of the most rigorous and ascetic monastic order in the Western world: the Carthusians. This is the story of their five-year journey into a society virtually unchanged in its behavior and lifestyle since its foundation in 1084. An Infinity of Little Hours is a uniquely intimate portrait of the customs and practices of a monastic order almost entirely unknown until now. It is also a drama of the men's struggle as they avoid the 1960s—the decade of hedonism, music, fashion, and amorality—and enter an entirely different era and a spiritual world of their own making. After five years each must face a choice: to make "solemn profession" and never leave Parkminster; or to turn his back on his life's ambition to find God in solitude. A remarkable investigative work, the book combines first-hand testimony with unique source material to describe the Carthusian life. And in the final chapter, which recounts a reunion forty years after the events described elsewhere in the book, Nancy Klein Maguire reveals which of the five succeeded in their quest, and which did not.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Amazing!
This was a fantastic book! I think the other reviews described the book well. This book was absolutely amazing.
Rating: - An unlikely page turner
Reading "An Infinity of Little Hours," I was, somewhat to my surprise, drawn deeply into the ascetic world of this Carthusian monastery in England through the stories of the five men who entered in 1960. The book becomes an unlikely page turner as you wonder who among the five will be able to endure the silence, the alone-ness, the cold, and other privations in order to become closer to God, which was their motivation for joining this most austere of all religious orders.
The small ... Read More
Rating: - A window into an unknown world
This contemplative, low-key text shone light into a realm unknown and unknowable to most people, and offered insights into the daily rituals and rhythms within this cloistered context. The men described were well-drawn, human, and treated respectfully, and each vignette offered different perspetives and angles on the experience inside the walls.
I have recommended this book to friends interested in learning more about lives of meditation and solitude. I found it raised many points of ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent. A literary and religious breakthrough
simply excellent. Couldn't put it down until finished. profound, moving and direct. one has to admire her five subjects and others involved----and the author who told their individual and collective story.
Jim Whalen
Rating:  - Reality, not hagiography
Reality, not hagiography. This is the best way to describe An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order, by Nancy Klein Maguire. I think it is appropriate to begin this review by stating from the start what this book is not. This is not the story of five "conventional" holy men although each one was "holy" in a particular and peculiar way. The author did not set out to inspire people to pray, to excite the faith of believers ... Read More
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