"Sebastian Barker's Damnatio Memoriae: Erased from Memory opens with an autobiographical sequence of poems in which he evokes past and present loves, the urban landscapes of London, and the hidden beauties of the Lea Valley. They are all occasions which point towards the reflections to come on the sacred dimension of love and the evil which arises when this dimension is lost. These reflections become a springboard into the main section of the book, in which Barker draws upon Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Ancient Near Eastern traditions to chart the search of the soul for faith in the face of cynicism, cruelty, corruption, and despair."--Jacket.