No comments about Bestower of Light: A Portrait of Dr. Javad Nurbakh, Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order.

No comments about Springing Forward.

5 comments about No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II.

1. If you ever feel that your fellow man has no regard for you, pick up this book and don't put it down untill you have finished it. What an inspiring story of four 'Men of God' and their dedication to that God, each other, and all those fortunate enough to have crossed their paths. You will be stunned by the character of each of these great men.



2. With a sickening thump, an explosion wracked the troop transport S.S. Dorchester - a German torpedo had found its mark. It was shortly after midnight, February 3, 1942, and the ship was about to sink into the deadly cold waters off of Greenland. As men panicked and struggled to find a way to save their own lives, four men walked amongst them spreading calm and encouragement. Helping everyone they could find, even giving away their own precious lifejackets, the four chaplains - Rev. George Lansing Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alex Goode, Rev. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Fr. John Washington (Catholic) - sought to serve their God and the fellow men. And when the end came, survivors saw the four chaplains, locked arm in arm, praying on the upside-down hull of the ship, just before it dove beneath the waves.
   
   This book tells the remarkable true story of four men who joined the American military as chaplains, their experiences at their Massachusetts training camp, and their final tragic mission. It is a story that is bound to bring a tear to your eye, but it is also a great story of faith and truly living the life of godly sacrifice. Overall, I think that this is a great book, on that I highly recommend to everyone.



3. Everyone who's already reviewed this book has said so much about it that it's hard to find anything more to say about how well it's written, what a great gripping true story it is, and the amazing heroism of the four chaplains. This book is so well-written and has such a compelling and involving story that I read it in like two days, and wished there had been even more. Additionally, this heroic tale from WWII has special meaning to many of the people in my area (New York State's Capital District) because Rev. Clark Poling's church was in nearby Schenectady, providing a local connection.
   
   The book itself follows a somewhat nonlinear format, going back and forth between the pre-war lives of the four chaplains and their lives during the war, particularly after they boarded the Dorchester and arrived in Greenland for a very brief stay before going back on the ill-fated ship. After this point, the narrative switches entirely to a linear format, discussing the ship's final night before being torpedoed by a German U-boat and the chaos, heroism, and tragedy that ensued. Not many people could honestly say that they would give up their lifejackets if their ship went down in freezing waters in the middle of the night (Rabbi Alex Goode even gave up his gloves) or remain calm in the midst of such frantic circumstances and such a life-and-death situation. Many people back then also weren't so forward-thinking about interfaith relations, with a Reform rabbi, a Catholic priest, and two reverends from different Protestant denominations being such close friends and reaching out equally to everyone on the ship, largely being nonsectarian apart from when they did things like conduct services. This was still an era in which many Protestants and Catholics didn't associate with one another, to say nothing of the rampant institutionalised prejudice against Jews, and, in a number of areas, against Catholics as well. They set a moving and heroic example for all time, not just in the area of interfaith relations, but also in the area of selfless sacrifice. It was interesting to read in the Afterword about some of the people who have since been awarded the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity Award, such as the Japanese Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Omri Abdel-Halim al-Jadah, a Palestinian Muslim who died while saving a young Israeli Jewish boy from drowning. The Afterword also provided information on what happened to the survivors of the Dorchester sinking and the near and dear ones of the chaplains.
   
   As we find out all throughout the book, this tragedy could have been prevented (it was kind of like a smaller-scale Titanic) if only the Dorchester had been inspected more closely or refurbished, or if there had been enough lifejackets and safety instructions provided, and even after disaster struck, the casualties could have been reduced if the nearby American ships had begun searching for survivors and bringing them onto their ships right away instead of thinking nothing serious had happened or going after the attacking U-boat first, but even in the midst of such bungling and such a chaotic disaster, the amazing heroism of the chaplains shone through as well as it would have in calmer circumstances.



4. I ordered this book for my father, whose brother died in WWII. The family was given almost no information at the time, but by piecing together details, my mother determined that he was almost certainly on a particular boat when it was sunk by the enemy. That fact was confirmed by this book, and it offered a lot of information that is offered only sketchily in other areas. We appreciate the author and the information he was able to provide families, as well as the story of the wonderful chaplains. My mother, an avid reader (particularly about WWII), said this was one of the best written histories on WWII that she has read.



5. This is a touching book about the four chaplains who gave their lives for our soldiers. You will read a biographical background on each chaplain. Their love for each other and the love for the soldiers reached beyond the line of denominations. They gave their lives so that others may life. You can see their beautiful pictures in the stained-glass window at Washington's Cathedral. I had the privileged to visit several years ago.

No comments about Letters of Teilhard de Chardin and Lucile Swan.

No comments about Reducing the Storm to a Whisper.

No comments about Everyday Heroes: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Made a Difference (Forged in the Fire).

1 comments about Cross And Switchblade.

1. I loved this book. I gave it to my husband as a gift as well. Very inspirational and strenghtening. God is just WONDERFUL and this book is proof that He works in mysterious ways and he is victorious.

1 comments about The Night of the Barbarians: Memoirs of the Communist Persecution of the Slovak Cardinal.

1. Perhaps our author's early years as a young Jesuit novice started out just as unusual as his early priesthood was destined to be. At 15 yrs old, Jan Korec, a native of Bosany (in the Slovak Republic) was the youngest Jesuit novitiate in his region; he took his vows at age 17 in 1941. Three yrs later, during the 1944 Slovak National Uprising, Korec hid out in a cellar in Trnava, reading philosophy to pass the time as the front line moved on thru. After that, he worked at a Trnava hospital caring for wounded Russian soldiers! Then while completing his studies at the Jesuit Institute, he wrote his thesis on Dialectical Materialism--irony incarnate, of course, as this is the official swan song of good marxists everywhere. And it was these very marxist followers who committed the horrors on that barbarian night of April 13, 1950 when the Czechoslovak state government shut down convents and monasteries and arrested religious leaders as "enemies of the state." Undaunted, Korec was secretly ordained a priest 6 months after this; the following year, he was secretly consecrated a Bishop of the Catholic Church. Over the coming years, he himself would ordain over 120 priests in "underground" ceremonies. Alas, in 1960, he was arrested for "treason" and imprisoned at the infamous Valdice and Pankrac prisons (he received early release in 1968 during the "thaw"). Even after his release, Bishop Korec lived under constant surveillance up until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The 30 years he spent under the communist hacks make up the bulk of this book and provide compelling reading. Many editors and distinguished personages went into the making of this book; forewards are penned by Vaclav Havel and Pope John Paul II. Fotos are provided liberally thru the text, as well as helpful footnotes to events and persons discussed within. Korec pulls no punches either in naming specific commie villains (a pox to you Vojtech Filkorn!) and he weaves his prison experiences with other famous Church figures (Bishops Vojtassak and Hnilica) alongside him. Occasionally, the text gets bogged down with legal details in his trial hearings and individual's names are not always provided in a uniform manner with diacritics. NOTB is not a grim preachy and humorless read at all: Korec weaves humorous anecdotes all through his trials with marxist mayhem. You'll learn all kinds of things in this book: that Czech crystal was the product of prisoners working under duress and in unsafe conditions...in 1991, Korec was appointed a Cardinal in the Church (Nitra). Don't believe the naysayers who claim we have no heroes today--you just have to know where to look! For starters, then, meet Cardinal Jan Korec, a man who defied the machinations of a police state to ensure the survival of the Catholic Church in Slovakia.

4 comments about Ann the Word : The Story of Ann Lee, Female Messiah, Mother of the Shakers.

1. This is a good introduction to the fascinating religious utopian sect. I had read other more detailed works about Shakers in general. The last of the Shakers live nearby in Maine. This work was more helpful on understanding Ann Lee, for all practical purposes the founder of the Shakers. It doesn't get you lost in footnotes and scholarly apparatus, but the sources are there if you want them. Reads like a novel.



2. Ann the Word deserves five stars for its fine writing, the extensive research, and a contextual narrative that helps us understand many events that otherwise seem unduly cruel and brutal. My five-star rating is balanced, however, by the one star awarded the author's annoying armchair psychology that intrudes at every turn - intended, it seems, to explain away anything that might be a little too difficult for the modern, sophisticated reader to swallow. The author is a somewhat gifted writer; he teaches creative writing and has published several previous books. But where this book fails is in its hubris; it is the hindsight of a nineteenth-century belief system that considers itself enlightened, while stubbornly maintaining a one-dimensional and materialistic tunnel vision of possibility. This book ascribes Ann Lee's blunt, often-accurate visions and prophecies to dumb luck, coincidence, and cunningly applied homespun psychological manipulation. The author lacks the magnanimity to simply present the story as revealed through his research, while allowing the reader to decide what lay behind it all. Nevertheless, we see are privileged to witness the workings and outcome of a true cult and its gifted, charismatic leader. And, ultimately, we see that society needs such cults and fringe movements, places where those who will never fit into the social norms of the day can find a true sense of purpose and fulfillment. Despite the frequent and annoying pop-psychology and a certain shallowness, this is probably the best book available on the roots of Shakerism and Ann Lee.



3. Ann Lee (or Lees as she was born) is one of the most fascinating mystics in modern history. An illiterate born in Manchenster, England in the early eighteenth century her life has been put together with confidence and flair by Richard Francis. Ann left no written records but Richard Francis has carefully pieced together what he can of her life from written records of the time and from her followers.
   
   Francis really gives us a feel for what life was like in Early Manchester from the population, to the role Ann's family played in the society to how they lived. It is a vivid portrait, her really brings his society to life, the crowded living, the social structure, and the society she dwelt in. It makes fascinating reading.
   
   She was a very charismatic person, who probably suffered from Anorexia Nervosa which may explain some of the mystical visions she had. Certainly her mortification of the flesh (refusing to eat for long periods of time, and denying herself sleep) is a sympton which many of histories mystics have employed to call visions of christ. Ann's charisma soon saw her heading the local branch of Shaker's, and even converting her own family to the religion, her own brother calling her sister and mother in one.
   
   This book is not just a biography of Ann, it is a record of early Shakerism, but also a substantial social history of Manchester and mid-eighteenth century America. Francis uses all the historical records available to attempt to flesh out the world which Ann inhabited and to strip away myth associated with her life (which she herself perpetuated) and the reality of what happened to her.
   
   I really enjoyed this. It was both well researched and well written. An Easy read without the tabloidism of some historical non-fiction writers.
   
   Highly recommended.



4. I had no idea who Ann Lee was until I took an Early American Lit. class in grad. school. Intrigued by her, I searched and found this book. I think Francis has written a highly readable book on Ann Lee and the Shakers. This book is a great introduction to both subjects, easy enough to read for the average person and interesting enough to keep the scholar reading. At times, the book almost seems to border on historical fiction, and I became caught up in the story.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an introduction to Ann Lee or the Shakers, as well as anyone interested in religion & "cults" in general.

2 comments about Vincent De Paul: The Trailblazer.

1. The author faithfully depicts the life of this 17th century saint without omitting a few inconvenient events that took place during his youth. This is a detailed and engaging narrative of a person that lived in turbulent times and that rose above his failings to become a true credit to France and to Christendom. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Read it; you will profit from it.



2. Wonderfully detailed and insightful biography of St Vincent de Paul. Well-researched and examines the man behind the myth. The book divides Vincent's life into three sections and chapters which are in chronological order. Has a great timeline and appendix/notes (with references) at the back which gives a detailed background of the political events and important people that influenced or was associated with Vincent and his work. There is also a helpful index at the back. This is a great, enjoyable read for both scholars and those who merely wish to read for leisure as it is academically sound without being dry. Recommended for those who are interested in learning more about this great saint.