All Saints is a collection of short bios, ranging from a few paragraphs to 2 pages of "saints"--both traditional and modern-- whose lives are models of courage in living. There is one for every day of the year, making it an easy book for daily use.

Ellsberg's choices cover a huge range, from saints acknowledged by Christian churches to others outside of that communion whose lives are thought-provoking and challenging; a brief list demonstrates the eclectic nature.

January 1: Mary, Mother of Jesus (1st century)

January 7: Felix and Mary Barreda, lay apostles and martyrs (died 1983 at the hands of the contras in Nicaragua)

February 14: St. Valentine, Martyr (d. 269) of whom very little is known

March 1: George Herbert, Anglican Vicar and Poet (1593-1633)

March 26: Harriet Tubman, Abolitionist (1820-1913)

June 12: Anne Frank, Witness of the Holocaust (1929-1945)

November 9: Kristallnacht Martyrs (1938)

December 22: Chico Mendes, Brasilian Rubber Worker and Martyr (d. 1988)

as well as more traditional saints such as Benedict, Augustine, Brigid, Prisca, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux.

These bios are not the usual pious hagiographies of people who are somehow superhuman, but down-to-earth accounts of the lives, such as we are able to glean from records in the case of the earliest saints, of real people faced with the same challenges as all of us have today. Far from being otherworldly, these saints are shown to be people who not only faced but lived up to the challenge of leading an ethical life in the midst of every circumstance guaranteed to make it difficult if not nearly impossible to do so. As such, they are worthy role models for all of us in today's life, no matter what religious or ethical persuasions we hold. ( )

Saints 24/7? They're actually much more interesting human beings than sociopaths. This modern-day Book of Hours brings them back to the fore.