Portals to Freedom is an intimate portrait of one of the most significant religious figures in recent history, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá - the son and appointed successor of the Prophet of the Bahá’í Faith. Author Howard Colby Ives offers us a remarkably candid and honest description of his own personal spiritual search as a Unitarian minister struggling with questions of faith and spirituality. His search ultimately led him to a discovery of the Bahá’í Faith just a short time before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá arrived in North America in 1912 on a quest to share the teachings and vision of his father with the people of the West.

In Portals we get not only Ives's personal reflections and inner struggles, but a fascinating eyewitness account of the words and actions of one who has been described by his Prophet-father as "the Mystery of God," is considered by Bahá’ís to be the perfect exemplar of the Faith's teachings, and who emerged from a lifetime of exile at the hands of the Ottoman Empire to travel tirelessly and share the Faith's message of unity in a profound and loving manner that touched the hearts of all with whom He came in contact.