The Sands of Tamanrasset

Charles de Foucauld, who was murdered in 1916, never gained a single convert. His lifelong ambition of establishing a new religious order did not come to fruition until well after his death, yet his life and writings are now more respected and studied than ever before. This is the story of Foucauld's life, a moving testimonial to how the willpower and religious fervor of one man can affect those around him and his own individual sense of being. It details how Foucauld gave up his place in the French aristocracy, dispersed his fortune and resigned his commission in the French army, and became such an ascetic that he was unable to found a new order based upon his religious principles because no one would adhere to the kind of life he chose for himself. It is a story that lends itself to not only the obvious religious aspects of the life of a desert priest but to a much broader interpretation of will, courage, and discipline.