H. Wu's spiritual autobiography Beyond East and West was published in 1951, it became an instant Catholic best seller and was compared to Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, which had appeared four years earlier. It was also hailed as the new Confession of St. Augustine for its moving description of Wu's conversion in 1937 and early years as a Catholic. This new edition, including a foreward written by Wu's son John Wu, Jr., makes this profoundly beautiful book by one of the most influential Chinese lay Catholic intellectuals of the twentieth century available for a new generation of readers hungry for spiritual sustenance. Beyond East and West recounts the story of Wu's early life in Ningpo, China, his family and friendships, education and law career, drafting of the constitution of the Republic of China, translation of the Bible into classical Chinese in collaboration with Chinese president Chiang Kai-Shek, and his role as China's delegate to the Holy See. In passages of arresting beauty, the book reveals the development of his thought and the progress of his growth toward love of God, arriving through experience at the conclusion that the wisdom in all of China's traditions, especially Confucian thought, Taoism, and Buddhism, point to universal truths that come from, and are fulfilled in, Christ. In Beyond East and West, Wu develops a synthesis between Catholicism and the ancient culture of the Orient. A sublime expression of faith, here is a book for anyone who seeks the peace of the spirit, a memorable book whose ideas will linger long after its pages are closed.

    Son of a clergyman whose ardent advocacy of causes kept him moving on from parish to parish, Charles Evans Hughes held consistently from boyhood on to his goal of the law. He went to school or not, as circumstances dictated, but eventually got to Colgate (then called Madison), shifted to Brown, and took his law schooling at Columbia. His rise was rapid; his personal life a richly rounded one, with an aboundingly happy marriage, professional success, travel, and the chance to choose his own field of endeavour, now in public life, now in teaching, and now in public service. Certain high spots emerge,-his battle with Hearst, his share in the reforms of state government, of insurance; he struck at the evils of bossism, of special privilege. During his years as Secretary of State he worked in vain for the League of Nations, secured partial ratification of the peace treaty, established the claims machinery, limited the Japanese mandates, and called the Washington Conference on disarmament. Despite the ultimate failure of some of his aims, he did bring the U.S. back into a place in world leadership. His record in public and private life shows a tolerant recognition of State powers, a grasp of the responsibility of the good citizen, and he emerges as a warmer more human figure than legend leads one to expect.