With the simple power and astonishing candor that made The Ragman's Son a great bestseller, Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas shares his quest for spirituality and Jewish identity -- and his heroic fight to overcome crippling injuries and a devastating stroke.

On February 13, 1991, Kirk Douglas, star of such major Hollywood classics as Spartacus and Paths of Glory, was in a helicopter crash in which two people died and Douglas sustained severe back injuries. As he lay in the hospital recovering, haunted by the tragedy, he kept wondering -- Why had the two younger men died while he, who had lived his life fully, survived?

The question drives this son of a Russian-Jewish ragman back to his roots and on a journey of self-discovery. Through the teachings of the celebrated Rabbi David Aaron he finds a new spirituality and purpose to life through Judaism. His new-found orthodox faith enables him to make peace with his son Michael, to listen to others, and, above all, to hear his own inner voice. Unsparing, frank, passionate, Climbing the Mountain is also an intimate account of the actor's courageous fight to recover first from his painful and crippling crash injuries and then from a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak -- an inspirational struggle that culminates in his triumphant appearance at the 1996 Academy Awards "RM" ceremony to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.