George N Shuster

Description

In this first full-length biography of George N. Shuster, Thomas E. Blantz, C.S.C., carefully chronicles the life of this leading American Catholic intellectual, journalist, educator, and government official. Throughout Shuster's life he was often surrounded by controversy and opposition: he remained a layman in a clerically dominated church, a deeply committed Catholic in a world of public education, a defender of German culture in an era of two world wars, and a public official championing internationalism as State Department policy became more cautious. But, according to Blantz, the diversity and differences were of little personal concern to Shuster as long as he remained, in his own heart, "on the side of truth." After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1915 and teaching on the English faculty there, Shuster and his wife Doris Parks Cunningham moved to New York where he taught at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and St. Joseph's College for Women. While in New York Shuster began writing for The Commonweal and remained with the Catholic lay magazine for the next 12 years. While Shuster was writing for and editing The Commonweal it provided a forum for some of the best contemporary thinkers on religious questions in both Europe and America, and challenged bigotry and anti-Catholic prejudice as well. From 1940 to 1960, Shuster served as the president of Hunter College, the largest college for women in the world at the time of his inauguration. Blantz explores many of the changes that occurred at Hunter during Shuster's presidency as well as Shuster's involvement in government service under the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations. In 1961 Shuster returned to Notre Dame as Assistant to the President and director of a newly established research institute. He remained at Notre Dame until his death in 1977. Shuster wrote nearly 20 books, 300 articles, and countless speeches and public addresses during his lifetime. In this fascinating biography, Blantz examines not only Shuster's work, but also the intriguing life of a courageous man who endeavored to remain "on the side of truth," in spite of virulent questioning and opposition.