All That Is Human: The Life of Brother Leo Meehan

This is a critical biography of the greatest platform speaker in the United States during the Great Depression era. His name was Brother Leo Meehan of the Christian Brothers. His extension courses for the University of California drew standing-room-only crowds, and his poetry recitals filled the San Francisco Opera House. He shared the same lecture podium with Winston Churchill and Sherwood Anderson. In 1939, he substituted for Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen for a month on the Catholic Hour over the NBC radio network. As its chancellor, Brother Leo made Saint Marys College one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the West. His magisterial history of English literature was adopted by colleges and universities across the nation. Although a vowed religious, Brother Leo conducted a secret love affair with a wealthy Oakland heiress, who was also his cousin. His leaving the religious life in 1941 became a national news story. After retiring to a stone villa on Lake Sherwood in Southern California, he married one of his many female fans. Francis Meehan died in 1966.