Peter Coleman has described him as 'one of the three most influential personalities in Australian politics since the war.'Graham Freudenberg said,'Santamaria was unique in Australian history as her only political intellectual in the high European tradition.'Malcolm Muggeridge (in his Foreword) stated:'In his last years Dr Evatts mind was not at its most lucid, but there was one thing that would arouse in him a kind of frenzy it was the word"Santamaria"'.BA Santamaria has been a unique force in Australian politics for over fifty years. He remains active and controversial forty years after the disastrous split in which he was a pivotal force and which kept Labor out of office for another two decades. His role, in association with the legendary Cardinal Mannix and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, in organising the anti-Communist Movement, is still fascinating and misrepresented. His relations with figures such as Mannix (his great mentor), Dr Evatt, Arthur Calwell and Gough Whitlam are complex and vividly recalled in this book. As director of the National Civic Council and Australias most prominent Catholic layman and intellectual, Santamaria has been an important opinion leader whose activities as ideologue, organiser and spokesman have involved him in much controversy throughout his career.The first edition of Against the Tide appeared in 1981 and sold 7000 copies. Now Mr Santamaria adds fifteen years to his compelling political memoirs. Of particular importance are his relections on the rise of Labor after the economic rationalism, and the modernization of the Catholic Church. One of the most effective and hated political operators in Australian history, Santamaria again proves to be one of its most cadid autobiographers.