The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton

Rating:
Summary: Overblown, overwritten, confusing
Review: It's a shame that John Howard Griffith was unable to finish his authorized biography of Merton due to illness. Unlike Mott (who replaced him, he understood monastic spirituality.

Mott seems more interested in cramming Merton's life into his "Seven Mountain" construct, resulting in confusing chronology.

The portion of the biography that Griffith was able to complete was published by his estate--it is clear that his would have been the better book.

Rating:
Summary: Overblown, overwritten, confusing
Review: Mott has carefully researched thousands of documents to come up with a biography of Merton that is both scholarly and engaging. For years, Monica Furlong's biography of Merton was my favorite, but Mott has surpassed her work largely because of his access to materials that were not available before. Perhaps the most popular example of this was Merton's romantic relationship with the student nurse from Louisville. Mott's honest and objective view of this crucial event in Merton's life is masterfully studied and composed in the tone of a good friend who won't accept facile answers as truth. In this sense, Mott does more than write about Merton, but frequently engages the Merton he has found with the curiosity any fan of Merton's would understand, and a depth few of Merton's biographers have achieved.

Rating:
Summary: A Definitive Biography of Thomas Merton
Review: Mott has carefully researched thousands of documents to come up with a biography of Merton that is both scholarly and engaging. For years, Monica Furlong's biography of Merton was my favorite, but Mott has surpassed her work largely because of his access to materials that were not available before. Perhaps the most popular example of this was Merton's romantic relationship with the student nurse from Louisville. Mott's honest and objective view of this crucial event in Merton's life is masterfully studied and composed in the tone of a good friend who won't accept facile answers as truth. In this sense, Mott does more than write about Merton, but frequently engages the Merton he has found with the curiosity any fan of Merton's would understand, and a depth few of Merton's biographers have achieved.

Rating:
Summary: American Mystic
Review: This, the authorized biography, is less revelatory since the publication in the past decade of Merton's voluminous letters and journals, but it is still an indispensable source of telling details, provocative commentary, and precise chronology about the life of the famous writer and monk.

Like many biographers, Mott adopts something of the style of his subject. This episodic, often elliptical narrative mimics Merton's own prose and compellingly evokes the feel of his life. In my view, however, it is not as successful at providing a definitive overall portrait.

Mott seems more at ease appreciating Merton's considerable literary talent and analyzing his often enigmatic psyche than in assessing his theological and spiritual significance. To fully appreciate Merton's place in American religious history, one can supplement this generally fine biography with more recent works.