Hold Nothing Back: Writings by Dorothy Day

by Patrick Jordan, Kate Hennessy (Foreword)

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a well-known American journalist, activist, and Catholic convert whose cause for sainthood has been endorsed by the US bishops. She wrote numerous articles over a period of several decades for the prominent lay Catholic magazine Commonweal. Hold Nothing Back is gleaned from those writings. It includes reflections on her life as a single mother, her time in jail for civil disobedience, her struggles to keep the Catholic Worker movement she cofounded afloat, and her travels on crowded buses to report from the front lines about labor disputes, racial inequality, and poverty. At the heart of whatever Day wrote lies a profound and prophetic faith. Hold Nothing Back--a new, abridged edition of the previously published Dorothy Writings from Commonweal--gives a glimpse of her remarkable humanity and endurance, and of the vibrant spirituality that underlay them.

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2016

Reviews

[Antionea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold nothing back in a story that is focused on the main Character Dorothy Day a chaotic Journalist, who didn't have much was very poor, but still made ends meet to provide for the poor giving them a home to sleep in and food to eat. The second Character is her daughter Tamara who was beside her mothers side through the ups and downs she loved her mother very much it seems like she even at the age of four she understood that her mother had a caring heart so she wouldn't speak on the things that may have not been so fair for example her having to share food her mother provided with the poor people that were welcomed in their home.
Setting, although Dorothy was shut down many a times by men and other people religions the fact that she was apart of the chaotic movement she ha been sent to prison multiple of times, and that shows how strong and passionate she was to fight fo her beliefs.
Plot, towards the end of the story Dorothy was getting old out of a job but she still kept going writing her articles until she and the poor finally got the attention tat she was aiming fir to et the poor off the street in the work field able to eat and provide for themselves.
Relevant information, believe it or not Dorothy Day was a single mother at a young age, but nothing stopped her she maintained to be a great mother to her daughter Tamara and still provided for the poor at time without having a job that just shows the ambition this women had in her.
What I noticed in the book was that how Independent Dorothy Day was. Not so much money wise but mobility wise she didn't have much money but she always made a way to eat to find a job to just keep going and I noticed that she did all of this as a single mother and in the earlier days women were to be more dependent of men.
I given "Hold Nothing Back" 5stars why? because the title is self explains the book Dorothy held nothing back whatever she wanted she went for it all while staying true to her religion and being a single mother. Another reason I rated the book 5stars because the book kept me wanting to read more I'm a huge fan of true stories and Dorothy is such an inspirational women I like how the book begun in her early life towards her older days.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently became aware of Dorothy Day and her activism. This was a collection of her essays that gives insight to her experiences and travels.