Don Juan Donoso Cortes (1809-1853) is one of those rare figures whom academicians find difficult to slot into any conventional category. An eminent Spanish figure - statesman, journalist, politician, philosopher, theologian - Donoso rose to European prominence as one of the most acute, if idiosyncratic, diagnosticians of the age following the French Revolution. This study of the mercurial life and thought of Donoso Cortes enters the kaleidoscopic world of nineteenth century Europe, whose political and ideological intrigue so shaped Donoso's own diplomatic and religious aspirations. Capturing the fluidity of his life with greater sympathy and profundity than any other contemporary student of Donoso, R. A. Herrera stresses the religious, social, and political importance of Donoso's thought and highlights its significance in light of present-day vicissitudes.