No comments about Butler's Lives of the Saints: New Saints And Blesseds (Butler's Lives of the Saints (Numbered)).

No comments about Auntie Anne's: My Story.

4 comments about On the Road With Joseph Smith: An Author's Diary.

1. All biographies are written through the eyes of the biographer. They tell as much about the writer as the subject. Hence, biographies on Joseph Smith run the gamut of opinions. Bushman has his own, and this diary really helps to understand his thoughts on writing and promoting Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. It would be great if every biography (and history book, for that matter) came with a personal diary by the author like this one. History is not a set of facts, it is a story told by someone.
   
   The extreme conserative Mormons will not like Bushman's scholarly approach, and those who pass too quickly on Joseph Smith as a fraud will call Bushman an apologetic, but I think the majority of us in the middle like RSR, and will really like this diary. Seeing the personal side of a biographer so important to American religious studies is a great opportunity. It's also not every day when you come across someone from a big university like Columbia who is also humble.



2. This brief memoir (140 pages including the index) is a book about a book--Bushman's Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)--and the reaction it generated from Mormons and non-Mormons of various sorts during the author's yearlong promotional tour. On the Road will obviously be of greatest interest to those acquainted with Bushman or who at least have read Rough Stone Rolling; but the volume may also appeal to those curious about contemporary non-fiction book publishing or who are interested in how contemporary Mormon intellectuals try to sort out the more awkward aspects of their faith.
   
   Bushman confesses to having a "sensitive temperament," and he is sometimes so revealing that the reader feels on the edge of voyeurism. For instance, Bushman expresses his frustration at forgetting his cell phone charger, he regularly checks the Amazon.com rankings of his book, and he compares the quality of his own interviews with those of President George W. Bush: "He seemed unsure and forced in his answers....Sitting before a reporter who was going to be more critical, he faltered, and I do the same. I also thought it was partly because he is not entirely honest. He keeps thinking of the criticisms of his statements and is not certain he is answering satisfactorily. As I watched I was of course applying these observations to myself." (94) The volume is full of what one nineteenth-century after-dinner speaker called "carriage speeches"--the revised discourses he made to himself on the way home in his carriage.
   
   Bushman includes curious speculation about the nature of ultimate reality (60-62), which concludes with his pronouncement that "Mormons are not the only source of light" and that "Christ radiates throughout the world, through many voices." Yet he is willing enough to play down such sentiments for the present when Mormonism is "under attack from evangelical Christians." Bushman also expresses discomfort at Joseph Smith's polyandry and yet, for unspecified reasons, he swallows Smith's angels and golden plates whole. In the end, Bushman admits that by writing Rough Stone Rolling for both Mormons and non-Mormons, he attracted educated believers but lost readers at "both ends of the spectrum"--conservative Mormons who wanted an unsullied prophet with supernatural gifts and non-Mormons who were confirmed in their previous belief that Smith was only a charlatan.



3. Richard Bushman has published a brief account of dealing with his book, "Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling." I have read several other accounts of author's process of writing and reacting (John Steinbeck most notably), but have not felt that I reached the heart and soul of a man as this book does with Richard Bushman. He leaves nothing out.
   
   Most interesting are his attempts to deal with an anti-Mormon audience vs. conservative Mormons. His motivations are pure and having read "Rough Stone Rolling," I think he has pulled off a major accomplishment. He is a great and sincere man. He certainly is at the forefront of LDS historians and scholars.



4. I suspect this review is more personal than will be really helpful to Amazon readers. I write more to the the man than about the book.
   
   Professor Bushman is a deep thinker. I am impressed by his dedication to his profession (and why shouldn't he be dedicated), and to his faith.
   
   I also appreciated his candid discussion of his foibles and vanities. I think I begin to see that great things are accomplished by those who continue to "show up" as much as by those with genius (though I think Professor Bushman has plenty of genius). I get a chuckle from thinking of him checking his Amazon ranking because I'm just sure that I would do exactly the same thing. Isn't it just too human of us to want to know where we are "ranked," how we stack up against others.
   
   Perhaps the most compelling part of this book, though, is Brother Bushman's obvious efforts to be true to his convictions and spread the word in ways that are consistent with his academic AND spiritual views. I find him to be living up to the Mormon motto that "all things are spiritual to God."
   
   Well done, Professor. You are a credit to your faith.

2 comments about Phineas F. Bresee.

1. I first read this book as a required text as an undergrad. I didn't like it much. In seminary, I took a second look at it and found that this book is more than just a biography of Bresee. This book is JAM-PACKED with information regarding Bresee's roots in Methodism and his role in uniting holiness churches. It is a go-to book for my history of the Church of the Nazarene because of Bangs' excellent detail. I give this book four stars instead of five for the following reason: Bangs is too concise. Normally people like that, right? I wanted Bangs to say more in each paragraph precisely because some great historical information got lost in ambiguity--thus a student's need for secondary sources. It left me with the feeling that this book was rushed to the presses.



2. I purchased this for a class that I am taking to make a paper on. I found it fulfilling and spoke the root of Phineas F. Bresee.

No comments about Prophetic Whisper.

5 comments about Jesuits: A Multibiography.

1. The Jesuits were members of the roman catholic church also known as the society of Jesus. It was found by Saint Iganatious, who was a very well educated pope in 1540 A.D. St. Iganatious had friends who also jooined the Jesuits. One of his friends was Francis Xavier. He was also a very well educated and talented man. He helped St. Iganatious run the group and he was one of the people who were on the hall of fame for the Jesuits. Jesuits are known throughout the world. People in the world join the Jesuits because the group was a very religious order of men and it helped people all over countries. Jesuits were also very famous for their excellence in their missions and the vows which were very reasonable. Jesuits' missions were fantastic because the missioinaries help out people who are in need and they give blessings to the poor and the weak. They try to live their lives just as Jesus did.

   The most heretic leader or pope to me was propbably Francis Xavier. I admire his work in the group and in his missions. He was probably the best missionary the Jesuits had. He helped out everyone and was a fine leader. He was admired by his followers, leaders and people who were helped by him. Xavier set a great example to all of the members and people who were younger to him. Xavier was known as the father of the his people. Xavier made up the vows which every Jesuits would take. These vows helped the leaders of the Jesuits make certain that the members would be very faithful to them. The vows were very strict, but it helped the members a lot.

   My favorite part in this book was when the book talked about the missions. The missions were one of the best things that the Jesuits did. They traveled on carvans, boats, or on foot. Being a missionary was really tough. The members would have to be trained hard for 10 to 15 years.The members needed great experience to travel out of their homes and spread the words. First, they would have to know the bible and the stories really well. This way the members would be able to answer hard questions which are asked by unbelievers. Next, the missionaries would have to go travel to differnet places for a while because they didn't want people toget home sick. Finally they would have to test the members every thing.




2. The Jesuits were members of the roman catholic church also known as the society of Jesus. It was found by Saint Iganatious, who was a very well educated pope in 1540 A.D. St. Iganatious had friends who also jooined the Jesuits. One of his friends was Francis Xavier. He was also a very well educated and talented man. He helped St. Iganatious run the group and he was one of the people who were on the hall of fame for the Jesuits. Jesuits are known throughout the world. People in the world join the Jesuits because the group was a very religious order of men and it helped people all over countries. Jesuits were also very famous for their excellence in their missions and the vows which were very reasonable. Jesuits' missions were fantastic because the missioinaries help out people who are in need and they give blessings to the poor and the weak. They try to live their lives just as Jesus did.

   The most heretic leader or pope to me was propbably Francis Xavier. I admire his work in the group and in his missions. He was probably the best missionary the Jesuits had. He helped out everyone and was a fine leader. He was admired by his followers, leaders and people who were helped by him. Xavier set a great example to all of the members and people who were younger to him. Xavier was known as the father of the his people. Xavier made up the vows which every Jesuits would take. These vows helped the leaders of the Jesuits make certain that the members would be very faithful to them. The vows were very strict, but it helped the members a lot.

   My favorite part in this book was when the book talked about the missions. The missions were one of the best things that the Jesuits did. They traveled on carvans, boats, or on foot. Being a missionary was really tough. The members would have to be trained hard for 10 to 15 years.The members needed great experience to travel out of their homes and spread the words. First, they would have to know the bible and the stories really well. This way the members would be able to answer hard questions which are asked by unbelievers. Next, the missionaries would have to go travel to differnet places for a while because they didn't want people toget home sick. Finally they would have to test the members every thing.




3. The review by "Mr. Big," which for some reason appears twice, is so riddled with inaccuracies and errors that it is unworthy of Amazon.com. The references to the Jesuits as "popes" is sickening. The one thing that Jesuits have never been is "popes." Lacouture's book is obviously too big for "Mr. Big."
   
   Fortunately, the other reviews are more reflective of the book and of Jesuit history.



4. The book is written in a novel format with each chapter being a true story of Jesuits who represent the times. The author is very objective and while he praises the Jesuits throughout history, he also points out their flaws. The historical accounts and the social context of each puts a real face on the Society of Jesus. The reader comes to identify with and understands better why these men were both loved and feared, how they took courageous stands, yet backed down when they should have stood strong. It is a social history as well as a political history of the Church as well as the Jesuits.



5. All right, I'll be honest: By the time I had read page 6 of this book I stopped dead in my tracts, looked at the cover of the book and to see just who wrote this. Jean Lacounture. A Frenchman. A graciously condescending Voltairian-liberal Frenchman, not only in matters of religion but of/to non-French Voltairian-liberals.
   
   Okay, I thought. Guess I have to make allowances.
   
   So I kept reading.
   
   By page 61 I was THIS close to chucking the whole thing in the waste basket. Its not the subject, but M. Lacouture's style of writing. "Flippant" is perhaps the best word to describe it. "Ramblings" might be another.
   
   Now I'm not saying that this subject should be solumnly handled with kid gloves. But, for pete sakes...
   What do I mean? The author muses to himself. He adds numerous little asides and footnotes, some factual and many opinions, complete with a healthy sprinkling of exclaimation points and question marks. He merrily changes names in mid-chapter, even in mid-paragraph, i.e. in his later years in China missionary Jesuit Matteo Ricci became known to the Chinese by the name of Li Mateou. The author merrily referes to the man as either "Ricci" or "Mateou" apparently whenever he feels like it. Thus leaving the reader thinking: "Who was that again?"
   
   Anyway, my advise? "Forget it."
   
   Given this writer's style, this book is a labor of love (of the subject) to read if there ever was one.
   
   (And yes, I did read the whole book. Akin to eating a bowl of cold oatmeal.)

1 comments about Billy Graham, God's Ambassador: A Celebration of His Life and Ministry.

1. For anyone who has ever attended a Billy Graham event, or seen one on television, and has embraced his message of God's love and salvation, this book is a gift to you from the author/photographer.
   
   It's been over sixty years since Billy Graham exploded onto the scene as God's ambassador. Billy Graham: God's Ambassador chronicles Graham's life in words and pictures. I suspect that many of the photographs are new to even the persons who might have closely followed Billy Graham's career.
   
   The book includes hundreds of photos, quotes, comments and Graham 's personal statements from his life of serving God and man. It's a uniquely personal look into the life of Billy Graham and his family.
   
   Billy Graham, a man of peace, an advocate of human rights, the pastor to world leaders and the everyday man and woman, the husband, father and friend is first and foremost declares the word of God and His salvation for the world.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: Billy Graham, God's Ambassador is a five-star read and a great gift book.

5 comments about Every Man Has His Price: The True Story of Wrestling's Million-Dollar Man.

1. This book was not the wrestling bio I was looking for. Dibiase doesn't go into detail about the "unholy" things that he has participated in during his lifetime. He instead likes to focus on the positive aspects of having God in his life. Thats all well and good but I thought the book was a wrestling bio not a 200 page infomercial for the church. Bottom line..........if you want wrestling stories and detail this is not the book for you. However, if your looking for a great story about a man's love for Jesus Christ this book is great



2. dibiase was in the business for over 20 years. for a man with that much experience he sure wrote a terrible book. he rarely talks about the other wrestlers he met in all those years.too much information about his pre-wrestling years. i'm a wrestling fan for 25 years, i want to read about wrestling and the wrestlers. dibiase wastes chapter after chapter talking about playgrounds, grammer school, how many times he had to move, his grandmother. he talks about his wcw days for approximately 3 pages - what a rip-off.he's a fake and a coward when he refuses to talk about his preChristian partying days. don't waste your time, read dynamite kid's book(british bulldogs)- much more entertaining



3. Ted Dibiase, a.k.a The Million Dollar Man, has added to the growing pantheon of professional wrestling autobiographies / biographies with this self-authored tome. Dibiase, a second-generation professional wrestler, has lived the life and walked the walk that so many wrestling fans desire to read about. The autobiography is a quick read but nonetheless full of candor and detail. Most interesting to me was the circuitous professional history of Iron Mike Dibiase, the father of the Million Dollar Man. These tales of the old days in professional wrestling totally ground the reader in hard work habits and touring road life, moving families about to stay fresh in the public eye. Dibiase's story is one of trial and error. He endured the deaths of both of his parents (both professional wrestlers) and survived the consolidation of the pro wrestling "territories" into just a few dinosaurs, eventually ending where we are at today with one professional organization, the WWE. Dibiase attended college in Texas on a football scholarship, and met several other future pro wrestlers there. The book also chronicles the religious development of Dibiase, presenting a unique Christian point-of-view within the professional wrestling circles that Dibiase was forced to retire from due to injuries suffered in the ring. If you are planning on buying this book for lurid detail and scandal, save your money for the tabloids. Dibiase is a straight-shooter who does without cussing. His biggest shortcoming is that he dropped out of college to earn money as a wrestler to support his family. With his deep bass voice and loaded black glove (his original trademark before becoming the Million Dollar Man) Dibiase could make a good political candidate. I came away from reading this book with more respect for Dibiase and his way of living life. He is a real person with a real voice. He also could have made the book longer with more anecdotes about his accomplishments inside the ring, with more name-dropping and historical recollection. If anything, Dibiase is too modest about his long career. This book is still well worth the cost of admission to glimpse behind the curtain and see the wrestlers as human instead of performers.



4. For most people, Ted DiBiase is not one of the most well-known wrestlers. In the world of pro wrestling, DiBiase is one of the best heels ever. He perfectly played the part of the millionaire wrestler with arrogance and charisma.
   This book is far more than just a wrestling autobiography, although you will read about his fine wrestling career. DiBiase delivers enough wrestling stories and details to interest any wrestling fan.
   This book also relates the story of a man very devoted to his family and his God. In telling stories of his early family life, DiBiase clearly shows his love of family life. This sets the foundation for his total salvation later in life.
   DiBiase also discusses his life on the road as a wrestler and how that life style almost ruined his life. Fortunately, DiBiase's deep commitment to his God and his family saved him. He is very open and honest in discussing all of this. He is a devout Christian and he encourages all to follow his path, but he never comes across as phony or preachy. He just wants all to share in the same love as he does.
   This is a very good book for wrestling fans and all others, as well!



5. Back in the day, Ted DiBiase was the ultimate pro wrestling heel - as the Million-Dollar Man - who could get the fans worked up during one of his classic monologues on why, "Every man has his price."
   
   But - in wrestling parlance - it was truly all a "work."
   
   Published a decade ago, the autobiography traces his life as a child who grew up around the business of pro wrestling - he is the stepson of legendary grappler, Iron Mile DiBiase, who passed away in the ring - to how he climbed the ladder to stardom and the pop culture trappings of success that nearly ruined more than his career inside the squared-circle.
   
   There is space devoted to his wrestling career - taking tentative steps while still a student at West Texas State University, the refining of his character in the old NWA territories and attaining main event status - but the book is not only about the industry; it is a testimony on how Christ showed him the direction that ultimately saved his life and his marriage.
   
   DiBiase was blessed with a vision to found Heart of David Ministries and that is a major reason why the book needs to be reissued, with additional information concerning the events in churches, schools and - yes - in the ring throughout the world.
   
   This is not the typical pro wrestling autobiography that focuses solely on the action inside the arena and the drama in the locker room & corporate offices. DiBiase gives the reader his true story and the tragic price he nearly paid without the ultimate tag-team partner in life.

4 comments about The Golden String: An Autobiography.

1. After Oxford Bede Griffiths started life as an atheist who felt the need for 'something more.' He first found it in nature and the English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. He pursued this further with the study of philosophy, went through Descarte, Kant and into Coleridge's synthesis with Platonic concepts. Griffith believed he was also a communist, or certainly a socialist, in the pre-World War II days.

   Richer experiences with nature led him to a belief that what he found in nature was what he also had heard preached from church pulpits in his childhood. This led him first to the Anglican Church, then to the Catholic church because he wanted to become a Benedictine monk.

   Once taking his final vows he remained content in a monastery in England. Eventually he was invited to help out at a Benedictine monastery in India. There he began to learn Sanskrit and study Hindu and Buddhist scriptural classics. He left that monastery after a few years at an invitation to join an even stricter Cistertian monastery in another part of India.

   He became strongly influenced by the spirituality of the principle religious philosophy of India, Vedanta. He combined Vedantic spiritual practices with Christian monastic practices and eventually established a Christian ashram with overtones of Indian Hinduism. There he and his monks' practices include meditating twice a day, praying the eight Benedictine monastic hours, and reading the scriptures of the three principle religious traditions -- Judeo-Christian bible, Hindu-Buddhist scriptures and Moslem Koran -- at each of the eight canonical hours. This ashram/monastery has become famous for its broad ecumenical practices.

   The Golden String is one of the great spiritual biographies of the world.




2. This book is a very truthful look at one man's struggle to find the meaning of life. It is a fascinating look at a very complicated and sensitive individual. He describes his spiritual journey from agnostic to Roman Catholic monk in candid detail. He details his early agnsoticim, his epiphany during his final year at Oxford, his friendship with C.S. Lewis, his Waldenesque experiment. his pantheistic pagan nature worship along with the poets who he was inlfuenced by and finally his discovery of the orthodox Christian tradition, rebellion against rationality and journey to India. Griffiths reveals himself to be an unusually ecumenical man, finding wisdom in the Gita, Dhammapada and Dao de King as well as the gospels. he makes no attempt to gloss over the inconsistencies in the gospels, but intimates how they echoed the things that he had come to believe independently of the Bible. The main fault of the book was that his eventual conversion to orthodoxy seemed to be somewhat improbable -- we are still left wondering how it is that such a man was eventually able to reconcile the butchery and savagery in so much of the Bible as well as much of the moral corruption with the mystical god that he claims to have known. he also identified the Catholic church with the "mystical body of Christ" (Hooker) but fails to reconcile this with the church's history as one of the most brutal and repressive institutions in western history. He mentions that the 12th century was the height of human intellect and creativity, that Giotto and the medeival thinkers and artists were far superior to those of the renaissance (which he absurdly regards as the "beginning of the decline" of human acheivement) without giving a very good notion as to why he thinks this. The problem of his conversion was really still a mystery after I had finished the book -- it just didn't seem to fit somehow. Readers may do well to keep in mind that this book was written while he was in his late 40's and that he still had not assimilated the wisdom that he was to learn in his 40+ years in India -- this book, therefore, is a rather immature work, but is essential readers for all interested in modern religion, mysticism or comparative religion. I personally found this book of more value than Augustine's "Confessions". I think you will too.



3. There is a formative sense to his writings, a recollection in faith and God
   that is delicately wrought and said with a sense of the imminence of God in
   his life as a young man, and the beauty of poetry. I like that he comes to
   the subject of generations and of the various human forces of mankind in
   twentieth century history with a willingness of being open to some
   imaginative life that seems touched with the Holy Spirit. I wonder about
   this man of Christ, and his life that is lived in a way that is really
   outside my experience and observation (saintly); here is Dom Bede's genuineness in faith
   and his own religious devotion. When reading the work, I sought: I want some of that richness that is
   tenderly present. I understand this to be his first book. One reason to read the work for me I found is to look for it to open me, and there I found a kind of widening of the vista where there
   is a wind that blows that says this is a strong current in our lives. Here in this book, an autobiography of a man of God, there is a larger sense of the Christian faith ecumenical, a to
   be of our future, yet with the promise of Christ that says we are this
   unique group, Christian. The book is about the modern world. So it comes to me that way, and as I go through
   it I sought some taste of the wisdom that is inherent in what is a
   life that is gifted with the Grace of God. Certainly there is the inter-religious, and some notes to understanding an inner dialogue including the dialogue of prayer. Someone needs to want to read this kind of work to enjoy it in that light. The slim volume is good for reflection and meditation. One reflection it offered me was newly awakened: to think of charity. This "Golden String" is a holy kind of history. For me I continue seeing it as a kind of religious record and writing. The book was recommended by a monk to me. He said it was like reading something by Thomas Merton.



4. 
   by Heinrich Hora, Connels Point 2221, Australia (see more)
   
   This autobiography covers nearly all important thinking including atheism, the centre of religions, Chistianity and Catholicism as well about the main statements of philosophers, but also showing the author's steps from early search about the beauty of nature, culture, civilisation and experience with socialism and dictatorships. Though no final answer can be given, the synthesis of science and believe is discussed in a purified way free from esoteric or dubious speculations. Bede Griffiths has deeply bridged the world of East and West "together seeking to recover the wisdom which has been lost and to advance into the new age" by devoting his life to his worldwide known centre of an Indian ashram under the roof of his Benedictine order. The way he was led to this topic was transparent and a honest search distancing himself from modern fashion and degeneracy, exchanging his critical views with other inspired followers, down to earth life including craftsmanship and not missing a chance that he nearly got married. He underlined the new hope: "It is a movement towards a science and a technology which will cease to exploit nature and will learn to live in harmony with nature. It is a movement also towards a more human way of life...an attempt to reconstruct science and technology on a new basis."
   "To discover God is not to discover an idea but to discover oneself " is the question. "We have progressed from rejection of the Church at the Reformation, to the rejection of Christ at the French Revolution to the rejection of God at the Russian Revolution". Being born 1906 into a middle class English family he lost Anglican tradition and became an atheist when moving to own judgment and listening to the various texts like Fielding and Jane Austin, or Measure for Measure and King Lear. His discovery of the beauty of nature was the revelation which never lost him. Studying at Oxford "I had ceased to practice any form of Christianity, and regarded Christianity as a religion of the past". "Oxford had been commercialised...a sense of beauty which had been lost...beyond the reach of modern man" or an "inconsistency of the Industrial Revolution" what led him and few fellows to search for alternatives while carefully studying and discussing Plato, Aristotele, Spinoza or Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. St. Thomas Aquinas's and St. Augustine's works were compared with Buddha and Mark Aurelius along with Christ's sermon on the Mount. Moving then to a village taught to "distinguish between civilisation and culture", the first being "connected with continual extension of material luxury". "Our civilisation was not merely an offence against beauty and truth, against that rational order of life upon which human culture is based".
   Years later in the ashram I was mentioning the stainless steel plates in his kitchen as technological progress, but he did not accept this and preferred to take his meal from banana leaf. What showed him that "the source of evil was to be found in the human mind rising up against God and seeking to build up its civilisation without reference to God, the supreme arbiter of destiny and...human happiness". "Remember the Creator" are the steps how he found his happy way to finally become a Benedictine priest. "In the Roman Empire...the significance of manual labour had been lost through the introduction of slavery, just as it has been lost in the modern world through industrialism". His solution: "the monastic life restored it to its proper place in human life" by combining labour and continuous praying.
   It is really an adventure to follow Bede's way and read why "to sacrify is literally to make a thing sacred...to make it over to God" and "then we realize that the whole universe is a sacrament". It should be added that Bede could formulate with the blessing of the wide consciousness of the Vatican that all religions have a centre of divine origin..(dedicated to the celebrations of Prof.Dr.jur. Georg Romatka, Munich)

5 comments about Through Gates of Splendor.

1. This book really makes one question: How much do I truly trust the Lord? What would I be willing to give up should I be called to it? Would I be willing to sacrifice the basic comforts I know and depend on? Would I be willing to sacrifice my life with forethought decision? Even harder for me to think of than the sacrifice of my own life, would I be willing to sacrifice that of my husband, packing him up for a trip not knowing if I would ever see him again on this side of heaven?
   
   Elisabeth Elliot does a fantastic job of giving an account of the families' journeys to and in the mission field by using the journals and letters of some of the men and women. The men's and women's excitement at God's faithful attentiveness to their prayers is stirring, and their spiritual struggles are also encouraging. I give a lot of credit to Elisabeth Elliot for that. She doesn't fluff up the missionaries as uber-Christians. She shows through their struggles and lives that they have the same power as you and I, and that power is the blood of Jesus Christ.
   
   Even if you are not a Christian, this book may shed some light on both tribal culture and missionary culture. Whatever you believe, this is still a powerful tale of sacrifice, struggle, hope, and forgiveness. It is also still well written and well organized with multiple story lines forging into one giant one. Elliot knows how to pull you into the story. If for no other reason, this book is an interesting read because it shows the developing stages that led to the historical event that captured the compassion of the world - Christian and non-Christian alike.
   
   This particular version has updates to the story as well, which is a definite plus. I hope you are blessed by this book.



2. This book should be a part of every Christian's library. I had heard Elizabeth Elliot talk on the radio and had known the story of "the five missionaries" but reading the book gave me great insight to the lives of these families- devoted to ministering to the unsaved. They gave definition to 'the purpose driven life!'



3. Great book. Poor presentation in this current printing. Words and pictures are small. Paper and physical book itself is low quality.



4. If you are a Christian - this is a must read. If you are not a Christian - this is a must read.



5. I loved this book, it is definitely one to keep in my collection. Although I noticed that the type is very small and therefore a bit difficult to read ( and I have good eyesight ). Also I think something should be mentioned co: the pictures in the book, I knew it was tribal but I was not aware that there were photos. I still would have bought the book but I would definitely give it a PG rating.