Book Reviews
 Recommendations
“Reading Stephanie Mann's marvelous account of the English
Reformation was an exhilarating experience! It was particularly inspiring
to learn how the English Catholic laity behaved when the winds of
arrogance and anarchy blew violently in England. No one can deny that their
example is most fitting for us to recall and to emulate as we, Catholic
laity of the 21st Century, try to remain standing in our own ‘dictatorship
of relativism.’”
--Barbara McGuigan, EWTN host of Open Line
and The Good Fight
"When it comes to tellings of the English Reformation, a
delicate balance of wit and gravity must be observed if any justice is to be
done to this dramatic period in Western history. Stephanie Mann has done
just that; in Supremacy and Survival, one gets the facts and
figures of the English Reformation, while at the same time getting a hearty
dose of the irony and sheer tragedy of English religion in the years
following the reign of King Henry VIII."
--Matt Swaim, Producer of the Son Rise Morning Show on EWTN,
author of The Eucharist and the Rosary and
Prayer in the Digital Age
“Stephanie Mann succeeds in describing the
aftermath of the English Reformation in a way which is informative,
convincing, and readable. Her account is surprisingly thorough for such a
short book, and includes a whole range of political and cultural
consequences of the English Catholic Revival – a truly amazing event which
continues to this
day.”
--Father John Vidmar, OP, Associate Professor of
History at Providence College, author of
English Catholic Historians and the English
Reformation, 1585-1954 and The Catholic
Church through the Ages
“Heroism,
betrayal, murder, conniving – this period of history has it all, and
Stephanie Mann tells the gripping story with skill and verve.”
--Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Ph.D., New York Times
best-selling author of How the Catholic Church Built Civilization.
“More
than a stimulating history of the Catholic Church in post-reformation
England. Mann describes how a modern state imposed its confused,
contradictory version of Christianity on an often unwilling and resistant
English Catholic people.”
--Scott
McDermott, author of Charles Carroll, Faithful Revolutionary.
Book Review (from Eighth Day Books, Catalog #20,
2009):
We present here a remarkable synthesis. At once a
devout Catholic writing primarily but not exclusively for Catholics, a
writer of limpid prose, and a skilled chronicler, Stephanie Mann shows how
to write accurate and trustworthy history while unabashedly staking a claim
about wrongs and rights and final judgment on matters. Her territory is the
English Reformation and the subsequent fortunes of Catholics in England up
through the twentieth century. It’s a cavalcade of momentous persons and
periods and movements, never losing its connecting thread of conflict
between Church and State, and whether public order ever trumps freedom of
faith and conscience. Find in this book vivid accounts of Henry VIII and the
wives (three Catherines, two Annes, and one Jane). There are lucid accounts
of the reigns of Mary and her half-sister Elizabeth I, James VI, and Charles
I. The English Civil War, the Puritans and Cromwell, and the Restoration are
given due attention. But Mann isn’t writing mere political history. She is
at her best when describing the interfacing cultural and religious climates:
the lukewarmness—dangerous to all sides—of the eighteenth century, the
Oxford movement and conversion of Newman in the nineteenth, and the
influence of literary and intellectual figures such as Chesterton, Benson,
and Anscombe in the twentieth. With its extensive glossary of persons and
terms, timeline of events, study questions and bibliography, Supremacy and
Survival is a marvelous resource for teachers. But it is also a book for
common readers, forcing the question to all of what kind of faith creates a
willingness—sometimes even joyful willingness—to accept hanging, drawing and
quartering and other hideous tortures, for its sake. (used by permission
© Eighth Day Books)
Five Star Review on Amazon.com
By E.T.H. Teague of Chester, England!
A
Brilliant Summary (November 30, 2009)
I agree with the American reviewers who have rightly praised this useful
little volume. As an Englishman, I share their opinion that it provides
an excellent overview of a long sequence of complicated events. It does
not pretend to be a detailed academic study, but it is well-referenced
and the author has carried out a remarkably skilful job of distilling
the important points and narrating them in a clear and balanced way.
Anyone who reads this book will obtain a sound understanding of the
history of Catholicism in England since the 'Reformation'. In my view,
the author demonstrates a 'feel' for her subject that would put many
English historians to shame. Indeed, I cannot think of any other
up-to-date popular history of English Catholicism to match this reliable
and thoroughly readable account. If I have one criticism, it is that
I would have liked to have seen some reference to the important work of
John Lingard (1771-1851), whose meticulous historical research first
exposed the English people to the uncomfortable facts about their
so-called 'Reformation' and thereby discredited the ignorant basis of
much anti-Catholic prejudice. I very much hope the author will take the
opportunity to remedy that omission in any future edition.**
[Emphasis added]
**I have included
reference to Lingard’s work in the revisions to the second printing of
Supremacy and Survival—it’s at the printer now and should be
available again from Scepter in January 2011!
Excerpts from other reader and retailer reviews:
Five-Star Review from a Reader on Amazon.com!
“Stephanie Mann has written a fabulous primer on the subject of [the] effect
the English Reformation [had] on English Roman Catholics from the sixteenth
century through the 1800s. The chronology of the period is followed
perfectly. Chapters are concise. Her book includes a "who's who" of this
period as well as a time line to which the reader can refer. Mann's book
will serve as a both a launching platform for and a reference to the works
of other authors of the period, for example Eamon Duffy.”
"Narrat[ing] with clarity and insight, Mann draws from a variety of
scholarly studies on the Reformation, making the book an excellent
introduction to the fall and subsequent rise of the Catholic Church in the
British Isles. While the book was a refresher course for me . . . the way in
which Mann synthesizes the information into a coherent and flowing analysis
gave me a deeper understanding of the sequence and significance of events."
From the Five Star review on Amazon.com
by Elena-Maria Vidal, author of Trianon and Madame Royale.
Click here for the entire review.
"Stephanie Mann has written an instructive popular history of Catholics
under Protestant rule in England. . . . her love for the subject matter
always shines through. If you are a fan of the history of English
Catholicism, this is a book to own."
From the Four Star review on Amazon.com
by Rich Leonardi, blogger and "Son Rise Morning Show" contributor.
Click here for the entire review.
"This in, in fact, a highly readable, fast-paced historical overview of the
Catholic Church in England from the whole period stretching from the late
Middle Ages to the middle of the 20th century. . . . This is a book that
manages to pack in an awful lot of information in its 200 or so pages."
From the review by Southwell Books,
Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England (featured in their Summer 2009 book
catalog).
Click here for the entire review.
“This book should appeal to anyone interested in
the English Reformation. It should especially interest Catholics who have
studied history only in non-Catholic schools and colleges. It is brief, yet
full of interesting details. It is complete, yet free of meaningless
meanderings. It is well-written, a delight to read – and re-read.”
From the Venite, Missa Est! review by Jim Spencer.
Read the
entire review
here.
Ask for it at your favorite bookstore/on-line shops. Click below to buy NOW!
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