by Thomas MertonWhen a fledgling writer published the story of his entry into a Trappist monastery 50 years ago, no one, least of all the book’s publishers at Harcourt Brace, imagined it would become a bestseller and one of the most important spiritual works of our time. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of its publication, Harcourt Brace has released a beautiful new edition of Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain, with an introduction by Robert Giroux, its original editor.