Fascinated by the story of Augustine's life, modern readers have largely succumbed to the temptation to view the Confessions as autobiography, but as Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg argues, it is actually a long prayer, suffused with the language of Scripture and addressed to God, not man. Here Garry Wills also addresses the writing and the afterlife of the book, from controversy in its own time and relative neglect during the Middle Ages to lasting prominence today, with the Confessions considered an object of interest not just for Christians but also historians, philosophers, and literary critics.