Writing mostly in English with only occasional excursions into mathematics, Saunders (b. 1909) recounts the intertwining of his life and work as an American researcher, teacher, and political advocate for science during most of the 20th century. He was studying at Göttingen with the likes of Hilbert, Weyl, and Bernays as the Nazis began dismantling the tradition of mathematics there. He went on to contribute to several areas of abstract and general mathematics.