The fifth of eight books of the correspondence of George Santayana. During the period covered by this book, George Santayana had settled permanently in Rome. His best-selling novel, The Last Puritan, was published in London in 1935 and in the United States in 1936, where it was chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. In 1936 Santayana became one of the few philosophers ever to appear on the front cover of Time magazine. His growing influence was evidenced further (...) by two other 1936 publications, Obiter Scripta: Lectures, Essays and Reviews and Philosophy of Santayana: Selections From the Works of George Santayana. Also during this year the first six volumes of the Triton Edition, a limited signed edition with significant new prefaces, was published by Scribner's. Santayana continued work on The Realm of Truth and The Realm of Spirit, as well as his autobiography, Persons and Places. (shrink)

Letters from the last years of Santayana's life, written as he completed Dominationsand Powers, the final volume of his autobiography, and the one-volume abridgement of his earlyfive-part masterwork, The Life of Reason.

George Santayana was one of the leading philosophers of his era. His range of interests was wide; in addition to books and essays on philosophical subjects, he wrote literary criticism of the first rank, cultural criticism that remained fresh and valid up to the time of this book's publication in 1968, and autobiographical works which reveal a man of great charm with a deep interest and affection for his acquaintances. This two volume selection of Santayana's writing is exceptionally (...) comprehensive; the editor has been careful to provide passages which adequately illustrate Santayana's views on a wide variety of subjects and his selection includes essays and excerpts from books that had long been unavailable. Volume two contains selections of cultural and social criticism and philosophical writing. (shrink)