George Santayana (1863-1952) was a philosopher, poet, critic, and novelist. The MIT Press has published The Letters of George Santayana in eight books and The Life of Reason in five books.

David E. Spiech has worked in commercial and academic publishing since 1999. Since 2003 he has been on the staff of the Santayana Edition at the Institute for American Thought, helping to produce the critical edition of The Works of George Santayana.