All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day by Dorothy Day

All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day Reviews

• 
  Cassie T

  I've been sitting here, trying to think what to say about this book,
  All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day. It is so breathtakingly real. She was so involved in the Christian world, she lived it and breathed it. The book/letters were beautiful, and inspiring. However, I cannot say it better than Sister Wendy Beckett who stated "These wonderful letters (wonderful even in a merely human sense) can almost startle us with their revelation--natural, unpretentious, non-preachy--of what it means to be holy. Dorothy Day loved our Lord in the darkness of a real world, one where she met with distrust, betrayal, grinding poverty, and anxiety. These sorrows did not keep her from God. They drew her into His own redemptive suffering. There are no letters like these."
  
  And so know you know why I cannot say anything better, Sister Wendy Beckett happened to say it better than anyone else could. I really, truly enjoyed the book, and I would suggest that anyone of the Christian or Catholic faith read the book, heck, I even suggest people who aren't Christian or Catholic take a look at it. Beautiful. And so, so real.
  
  I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
• 
  Kathleen Basi

  We tend to think of saints (and those in process) as perfect. Reading Dorothy Day's letters shows her passion, her uncompromising values--which are, half the time, not what you expected, regardless of where you "sit" on the spectrum--and her oh-so-human foibles. I set about reading this to see how a social justice warrior who is authentic Catholic enough to be on the road to sainthood dealt with the anger of helplessness against worldly evil while also remaining detached. I got far more than I expected, and I am better for it.
• 
  Happyreader

  As a non-Catholic, I have to admire Day’s commitment to pacifism and serving the poor. The contrast in content and style of her letters before and after she committed herself to Catholicism and the Catholic Worker is stunning and is testimony to the power of finding your true path. Her letters are also testimony to the personal cost of living your convictions. Opposition, personally, politically, and spiritually, is ever present throughout the letters but as she continually reiterates, her faith and perseverance gives her the strength to carry on. She is continually exhorting others, including those in the Church, to examine whether they are serving God or man.
  
  Her politics were both progressive and regressive. Her wildly unpopular commitment to nonviolent resistance and pacifism through WWII inspired Vietnam War resistors. Her support of offering integrated hospitality in the CW houses of hospitality as early as the 1930s forced the closure of some CW homes by racist neighbors. Her letters to the IRS, explaining why she does not files taxes complete with Catholic pamphlets, and NYC tax assessors, returning a sinful interest payment, must have entertained and puzzled those bureaucrats. Her empathy for workers included picketing and being jailed along with Cesar Chavez’s striking grape pickers. Dorothy Day was more anti-capitalist and anti-government than many communists and libertarians. At the same time, despite her status and her daughter’s eventual status as single mothers, despite her fighting for women’s right to vote prior to her conversion, despite her aversion to racism, despite being a leader in her own right, she was not a feminist. As late as 1968, she states, “I am no feminist. I believe men have the vision and women must follow it.” Disappointing to witness a woman who definitely fought the Man and frequently the male Catholic hierarchy making the connection between capitalism and poverty but not between sexism and poverty.
  
  Still, Day's commitment to service and her walking the talk inspires a desire to learn more about her and her politics and spiritual outlook. The letters offer a glimpse but leave gaps as there are sure to be gaps in most correspondence.
  
• 
  Stuart

  All the Way to Heaven is an anthology of letters written by Dorothy Day from 1923 to 1980. I did some research to find out the year in which she was born (which was 1897 if you were wondering). This means that these letters began when she was approximately 26 and continued til February of 1980, when she was 82 years old. This is impressive in and of itself. Like most twenty-somethings, her early letters deal with love and relationships. This first series was written ten years before she established the Catholic Worker movement. By reading these letters, we are able to see her life before God got a hold of her.
  
  We then see a dramatic shift in the next series of letters. By this time, she had become the leader of a lay movement and was addressing issues of labor and social justice. her focus had shifted towards helping others and away from herself. The rest of the letters continue to show her spiritual growth and maturity, as well as the advancement of her newspaper and the cause for which she fought her whole life - social justice. Besides writing to ordinary lay people interested in her cause, Dorothy Day also wrote to some of the most important people in her day, including bishops and Thomas Merton.
  
  I did not read all the letters, as they span nearly 600 pages. However, during the ones I did read, I found myself wishing to read the responses she received to these letters. I feel it would have fleshed out the dialogue more and made for more interesting reading. I did like that there was an index at the end, as it was helpful if you were looking for a letter to a specific individual. While this book isn't technically a biography, it feels biographical in a way as you read through it. Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
• 
  Julie James

  one quote (from p 304): "...we are getting the help we need little by little. It is true that it is begging, but the contempt that goes with it, the standing before the judge over and over again, the misrepresentations in the papers, the being accused of being a slum landlord and exploiting the poor, etc, not to speak of my past life being dragged in again and again, all goes with it so it must be pleasing to our Lord." It's just one quote from a 573 page book of letters, but what I loved about the book is simply the way that Dorothy expressed herself. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is that it's a book of letters, and that's just not an easy read in any sense. Robert Ellsberg did an admirable job of giving the narrative behind the letters, though, and he did it without getting in the way of what Dorothy kept saying again and again -- in so many insightful ways -- about how to be a Christian witness and how to love better.
• 
  Wes Mccomas

  Ever since i first heard of Dorothy Day I have thought of her as a modern day Saint. I felt energized reading her letters . My adirmation for her life long love affair to "Lady Poverty" and her self-less commitment to " the least of these" reminds a selfish world of whst is right and.
• 
  Kimberly

  This book presented a vivid picture of the struggles and joys experienced by Dorothy Day. Her life really came alive through her written words. Engaging read.
• 
  Larisa

  Fascinating look into the life of a dedicated woman in touch with other passionate social change advocates.