'Sr. Mary Catherine Baseheart offers the first comprehensive critical study of the philosophy of Edith Stein. This definitive and thoroughly researched account establishes Stein's pioneering role as a phenomenologist, whose contributions to understanding the nature of human personality, gender, knowledge of other persons, various types of social and political communities were trenchant, original, and often ahead of its time. Throughout this study, Baseheart fluently integrates relevant aspects of Stein's experience, exploring the links between Stein's bold philosophical achievements and her lifelong search for truth and social justice. By clarifying the ways Stein's thought agreed with and differed from her two masters, Husserl and Aquinas, as well as her phenomenological peers, Baseheart pinpoints the key elements of Stein's independent and penetrating intellect. This work has a potentially wide and diverse audience. Trained philosophers, European intellectual historians, and those broadly interested in the life and work of Edith Stein will delight in Baseheart's clear and concise presentation of Stein's ideas.' Joyce Avrech Berkman, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
