In this book Dr. Schweitzer gives his reasons for renouncing his academic future in Europe to qualify as a doctor, and he describes the building and growth of his hospital at the edge of the damp disease-ridden western Equatorial forest of Africa. It has become a classic of its kind because of its simple sincerity, its understanding of the primitive mind, its accounts of the triumphs and tragedies of the enterprise, and above all because the personality of one of the most remarkable figures of modern times is reflected so vividly in his writing