Hesburgh

O'Brien, who teaches history at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, has written a detailed but accessible biography of the man who, in more than 30 years as president of Notre Dame, came to embody the university for an American public more familiar with its football team than its academic programs. O'Brien chronicles Hesburgh's determination to transform the university into something more than a football powerhouse, to make it a great Catholic university. In the process, O'Brien offers significant insight into the career of an important political figure recognized for his moral leadership even by those who disagreed with his politics and his understanding of the modern university. Hesburgh's many presidential appointments, including long involvement with the Commission on Civil Rights and a role in the formation and early development of the Peace Corps, are represented here as emblematic of the university's public dimension. Although O'Brien's account is strictly chronological and rarely attempts interpretation--he simply narrates a career marked by stability without stagnation--his biography of a life of single-minded devotion will interest readers already fascinated by Hesburgh as well as those who meet him here for the first time. (Dec.)