From the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, George Santayana was a highly esteemed and widely read writer of philosophy, poetry, essays, memoirs, and even a best-selling novel, The Last Puritan. After a period of relative neglect, interest in his work has revived. A complete edited edition of his works is in progress and he has become the object of renewed scholarly activity. Contributing signifi cantly to the renewal was John McCormick's 1987 biography, the fi rst full-scale volume to treat an elusive fi gure's life and thought in the detail they deserve.