In telling the story of Saint Joseph's, author David R. Contosta examines five intertwined and shifting forces that have shaped the university since its founding in the mid-nineteenth century. These have been the fortunes of Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the Roman Catholic Church, the overall development of American higher education, and a welter of external events during 15 decades of national and world history. David R. Contosta, Ph.D., is Professor of History at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. From the fall of 1998 through the spring of 2000, Dr. Contosta was a Visiting Research Professor at Saint Joseph's University, during which time he researched and wrote much of his sesquicentennial history of this institution. He is the author of 14 other books as well as numerous articles and reviews - many of them focusing on Philadelphia and Philadelphians.