Benedict Books

The McWhirter's book provides a nice introduction to workingwith at-risk youth. This book is undoubtedly marked towardsundergraduate students and as a result the authors do a few things that are a bt too "cute" for my taste--like using their poetry and sayings at the beginning each chapter and using a tree metaphor to talk about at-risk behavior. Also, I did not find the case studies particularly relevant but are probably fine for students with limited experience workings with this population. None of this though detracts from an otherwise wonderful book. The authors do a nice job of addressing topics like risky sexual behavior, violence, and suicide and a good series of chapters on intervention. Having said this, though, I think this is a very nice book, enjoyed reading it, and will recommend it to others who want a overview of at-risk youth. END

Sandy Seaton and his adopted sister Mistie live on a mountain ranch and love their horses. This is the third in the series - `Pagan The Black' and 'Fabulous' being the other two. Bandoleer is the colt foal of Sandy's stud Pagan and Mistie's mare Sunrise. The group have lots of adventures and hardships and life is made harder by the separations involved in the young people's attending college throughout this book. I would strongly recommend reading the other two first.

This book is a biography of Benedict Arnold. Although a teacher may not want to read this book aloud to students because it provides more detail on a single topic than may be appropriate, the teacher can use the book as part of a project of famous Americans.

This slim volume serves as a nice introduction (or refresher) to the subject for middle-schoolers on up.

The chapter titles are as follows:

Introduction
1. Childhood
2. New Haven Merchant
3. Off to War
4. The March to Quebec
5. The Battle of Valcour Island
6. Hero of Ridgefield and Saratoga
7. Military Governor of Philadelphia
8. Treason at West Point
9. Benedict Arnold, British General
10. Last Years in Canada and England

After the brief introduction, Dr. Powell presents the material in a straightforward, chronological fashion. He begins with a brief bit of Arnold family history, then Benedict's youth and early education. A few highlights from Arnold's life as a successful young merchant bring the story up to 1775 and Arnold already in his mid-30s. It would have been nice to read a bit more of this period in Arnold's life, but perhaps the author (or the editor) decided there wasn't enough space to fully relate anymore anecdotes or details within the alotted page-count. In any case, the bulk of the rest of the book is, of course, devoted to Arnold's service during the American Revolution. Obviously, the last couple chapters relate his service with the British military and touch briefly on his "retirement".

I was curious how Arnold's story would be portrayed for this young audience, and I think the author struck a pretty fair balance. Arnold's heroism is laid out for all to see, as it should be, and so is his ultimate treachery. I'm not sure the younger readers will pick up on all of the various events that served to frustrate Arnold, or on his apparent insecurities, all of which contributed to his feelings of being underappreciated and led to his turning to the enemy for confirmation. (Of course, no one knows exactly what Arnold's thought processes were at the time and how he rationalized his treasonous actions.) But, the main thing is that Arnold is shown to be a brave and talented officer who then dishonored himself by betraying his country and comrades.

Powell's writing style flows nicely and is well-suited to its primary audience. There is one instance of redundancy that I thought slightly odd. A portion of Arnold's letter to General Washington (written shortly after his treason is revealed) is reproduced in Chapter 8 (p. 86), wherein Arnold tries to rationalize his "present conduct" as being due to his love for his country. (Although, one might wonder whether he was actually referring to Britain, in this case.) The same last sentence is also quoted on the last page of the main text (p. 99), which just seems unnecessary to me. Ah, well....

Unfortunately, as is typical for many short and/or youth-oriented books, there are no end/footnotes. There is a 'Timeline' of Arnold's life at the end of the book, as well as a helpful Glossary. (There was one word -- "impugned" -- that I thought should have been included in the Glossary but wasn't.) There is also a short list of 'Additional Resources', a Bibliography, and a brief index.

There are several photos and reproductions of paintings, documents, maps, etc. (many color, others B&W), which I really appreciated. There are also a handful of side-boxes with and extra bit of trivia or brief profile of another individual. But, there were a couple pictures/side-boxes here & there that seemed overkill and could have been replaced with more text, so I knocked off a fraction of a point for both Content and Style & Structure. Also, while most pictures are within a page or so of the relevant text, one full-page reproduction of a document seemed to be misplaced several pages after the text. A minor annoyance, I suppose.

Overall, well done, and I will continue to check out more volumes in the series.

Content: 4
Style & Structure: 4
Average: 4

Benedict Finds a Home is a great book for your child or children. It will teach then that there is no place like home but when you get older sooner or later you will have to move out and take care of yourself.This book has very good pictures and is easy to get.

This biography, by a professor of European history at Anglia Polytech, succeeds quite well in what it sets out to accomplish, which is to describe the political and administrative decisions of Pope Benedict XV. Those in need of a book on these subjects will enjoy it.

Had this book been adequately detailed, the historic parallels with today's papacy would have been quite interesting. Benedict XV was elected to succeed a Pope known for his fanatic adherence to Church dogma, who had not initially been elected by the College of Cardinals but left the conclave as Pope after the geriatric Austrian emperor, who was in dire need of a Pope willing to urge him to reform his emperor, vetoed a more progressive and pro-French candidate. Franz Josef got his yes man, relations between France and the Vatican went from bad to abominable, and the yes man pope died of a broken heart when World War One, which he had done much to foment, erupted. Thus Benedict XV's lot was to plead with all parties to make peace, a goal that his training as a diplomat for the Vatican would have prepared him well, but to no avail. Benedict XV had been a protégé of the elected, vetoed, and then ostracized papal candidate. Interestingly, the new Pontiff has chosen Benedict as his name.

In this book, Benedict XV comes across as a holy man who did his utmost to serve humanity as a churchman. Elected when Europe was at war, not in small part due to his predecessor, who, given to a strict rejection of anything that smacked of "Modernism," as clerics called theological innovation, had allowed Europe to become much more polarized than needed be. In particular, the relations between church and state in France were miserable, which deprived French Catholics, who supplied much trench fodder to the Great War, of an organized and capable voice to oppose the French war party. Benedict XV did all that he could to end the war, and lessen the suffering associated with it, in particular organizing the relief and exchange of wounded prisoners of war, (when their respective governments actually wanted to see them again.)

What this book is not, is a look at the psychology of Benedict XV. How did he, as an aristocrat, relate to the Papacy that had been moved sharply to the right and against evolution by a Pope who hailed from simple origins? Many more questions are raised in the attentive reader's cranium than answered.

A few subjects are simplified to such a degree that they are no longer accurate. One is when Pollard describes World War One as a clash of systems. This is largely accurate, but insofar as Russia, a major power in the Entente, was a Empire, it is misleading. Pollard also writes that Benedict XV's policy of a distinct lack of enthusiasm for Zionism continued into the 1990s. While this is true insofar that there was a strong Palestinian lobby in the Vatican, another factor that is often raised is was that recognizing Israel before the Madrid conference would have had unwelcome repercussions for the Catholics living in countries in a state of war with Israel.

There are some intriguing tidbits as well, such as how the Vatican greatly feared the possibility that the Russians would make their way to Constantinople, and get a real patriarchy off the ground, which would have significantly cut into their oriental sphere of influence.

Probably the best of the photo collections of Pope Benedict who has a surprisingly photogenic face and the most charming expressions. This is a lovely keepsake and coffe table book.

The perspective is well written and presented. The author conveys the great intellectual strength of his subject. He provides a rich, and wonderful, insight into the thinking of Benedict on the "person" and "communion". - I continued to read the book over an extended period: as someone new to the material, I took time for reflection. - The author is strongly supportive of Benedict. I learned a lot from this book. I strongly recommend it.

I really liked this book, I found that I just couldn't put it down once I started reading. Even though the book is Christian based the author places the religion so that no matter what religion you are it makes sense. I, being an atheist, even found the references to a higher power very well placed and not over powering. Ms. Raffa makes many connections to the psychology of women and that women and men are very psychologically different. Somthing I find a lot of authors don't do. If you are a women in need of finding yourself this book is a very good reference guide with visualisions and concepts that are easy to apply and grasp. I highly recommend this book, and have already passes it one to others.

Father Demetrius Dunn writes a gentle, scholarly understanding of the Rule of St. Benedict through the prism of its Scriptural roots. Is Benedictine spirituality inherently biblical, or is the bible used merely as supporting text? he asks. Not surprisingly, he finds Benedictine spirituality's heart lies in Scripture. Father Dunn spins out his thesis in lovingly crafted discussions of trust, compassion, discipline, community prayer and private prayer--all centered around Christ.

When I heard Father Dunn preach a sermon on the gospel story of the feeding of 5,000 (Matt 15:29-37), he stressed that most of us are not called to martyrdom or greatness, but to be a little "better". This message is repeated throughout Cherist Christ, findings its home in the Rule and Scripture. "Embracing one's real life in honesty and humility is a pre-condition for the faith that gives access to the saving events of God in human history", he writes (page 13). And while I may wish his writing style was less erudite, his message and scholarship are worth the reader's effort.