Christian Anarchist, Ammon Hennacy, A Life on the Catholic Left.

This article reviews a scholarly biography of Ammon Hennacy (1893–1970), an American Christian anarchist and pacifist known for his lifelong activism against war, government coercion, and social injustice. The biography traces Hennacy’s evolution from a socialist and draft resister to a Catholic Worker associate closely connected with Dorothy Day, highlighting his unique practice of parrhesia—fearless and performative speech—as central to his identity and activism. Hennacy’s life combined anarchism, Christian pacifism, and personalism, expressed through street protests, fasting, writing, and voluntary poverty, culminating in his founding of the Joe Hill House of Hospitality in Utah. Despite his significant influence on mid-twentieth-century pacifist movements and the Catholic left, Hennacy remained a complex, often solitary figure whose personal relationships were marked by tension and idealization. The biography situates Hennacy within the broader history of American radicalism and underscores his enduring legacy as a fearless witness to peace and social justice.