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Ends and Means

The book contains illuminating tracts on war, religion, nationalism and ethics, and was cited as a major influence on Thomas Merton in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain.

San Antonio, Florida

Dom Frederic Dunne was the first American Trappist abbot and is regarded as the man most responsible for encouraging Thomas Merton to write what would eventually become The Seven Storey Mountain among numerous other titles, while at The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky.

The Seven Storey Mountain

In the summer of 1948, advance proofs were sent to Evelyn Waugh, Clare Boothe Luce, Graham Greene and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.

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Thomas Merton died in 1968 of accidental electrocution while attending an international monasticism conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

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One printing bears this accolade on the cover, from Graham Greene: "It is a rare pleasure to read an autobiography with a pattern and meaning valid for us all. The Seven Storey Mountain is a book one reads with a pencil so as to make it one's own." Evelyn Waugh also greatly (although not uncritically) admired the book and its author.

see also