How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem

Written by Rod Dreher

Narrated by Sean Runnette

Following the death of his little sister and the publication of his New York Times bestselling memoir The Little Way of Ruthie Leming, Dreher found himself living in the small community of Starhill, Louisiana where he grew up. But instead of the fellowship he hoped to find, he discovered that fault lines within his family had deepened. Dreher spiraled into depression and a stress-related autoimmune disease. Doctors told Dreher that if he didn't find inner peace, he would destroy his health. Soon after, he came across The Divine Comedy in a bookstore and was enchanted by its first lines, which seemed to describe his own condition.

In the months that followed Dante helped Dreher understand the mistakes and mistaken beliefs that had torn him down and showed him that he had the power to change his life. Dreher knows firsthand the solace and strength that can be found in Dante's great work, and distills its wisdom for those who are lost in the dark wood of depression, struggling with failure (or success), wrestling with a crisis of faith, alienated from their families or communities, or otherwise enduring the sense of exile that is the human condition.

Inspiring, revelatory, and packed with penetrating spiritual, moral, and psychological insights How Dante Can Save Your Life is a book for people, both religious and secular, who find themselves searching for meaning and healing. Dante told his patron that he wrote his poem to bring readers from misery to happiness. It worked for Rod Dreher. Dante saved Rod Dreher's life-and in this book, Dreher shows you how Dante can save yours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781494584771

Rod Dreher

Rod Dreher is a writer and journalist who has written three New York Times bestsellers, including ‘The Benedict Option’ (2017) and ‘Live Not By Lies’ (2020). He is a columnist for The European Conservative and a senior fellow at the Danube Institute in Hungary. He lives in Budapest.

Reviews for How Dante Can Save Your Life

[Andrew Wells · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interesting read for Christians and anyone who loves great literature.

[Eric George · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was fantastic! If you've ever felt that most "self-help" books miss the mark or only deal with issues by avoidance then I highly recommend this book.

[William Broker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful read during the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. Read while reading the Comedia as part of the Baylor program. The writer shows great insight into the human condition and the insight Dante gives into confronting and accepting it. I was less than patient with the suffering of the writer as his issues with his family seemed to pale in comparison to the life struggles of many. However, he convincingly details the hurt he experienced and I’ll take him at his word. I’ve never suffered in this way and accept the pain felt by the writer. This is a good book even if it reading Dante. This would be helpful with anyone suffering with depression and life’s disappointments and tragedies. I’ll suggest it from many!

[deusvitae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A "travelogue" of sorts of the author's recent travails, challenges, and pursuit of health and reconciliation through Dante's Commedia.The author provides a sketch of his life growing up in Louisiana and then leaving for an extended amount of time. He moved back "home" to Louisiana to try to find peace and reconcile with his family; it did not go as he planned and he came down with a terrible illness.He happened upon Dante's Commedia and he chronicles how he was able to internalize Dante's journey toward wholeness, peace with God, self, family, his sins and difficulties, and to move toward true love.The book certainly displays "How Dante Saved Rod Dreher's Life"; the book is very raw, visceral, and personal in its experiences, almost painfully so. If the reader cannot relate, is in a different stage of life, etc., the personal association would be easily lost. Dreher's willingness to fully immerse himself in the text and its context allows him to "experience" the text in a way that seems foreign to modern readers who tend to maintain a "respectable distance" from the subject at hand. Such does not make an experiential reading wrong, but it can seem foreign to those not used to that type of paradigm.Dreher admits that the role Dante served for him could be served by other authors and texts for others; he makes a good appeal for us to prove willing to internalize good literature and learn from its wisdom and experience. Nevertheless many of the lessons he obtained from Dante could have easily been obtained from the Bible or other sources; as a Christian I would hope that believers would first find their inspiration from the Biblical text, appreciate the later works of others, but rely principally on the words of God to effect personal transformation. As an ex-Methodist ex-Catholic convert to Orthodoxy Dreher provides an interesting perspective on faith and liturgy; that background explains why he is more sympathetic to Dante and his doctrines than many others would. A good if overly personal exploration into Dante's Commedia and the power of literature and stories for personal transformation.**--book received as part of early review program