In this series of notes, opinions, experiences, and reflections, Thomas Merton examines some of the most urgent questions of our age. With his characteristic forcefulness and candor, he brings the reader face-to-face with such provocative and controversial issues as the "death of God," politics, modern life and values, and racial strife-issues that are as relevant today as they were fifty years ago.

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander is Merton at his best-detached but not unpassionate, humorous yet sensitive, at all times alive and searching, with a gift for language which has made...