Although much of this book may not appeal to a general audience, its theme of Catholicism’s modern-day appeal in is a timely...
A comprehensive history of St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta, as told by an insider.
In his latest book, Munro (First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton: A History, 2006, etc.) explores the full history of St. Joseph’s from its inception in 1927 to the present. The college began as the brainchild of Archbishop Émile-Joseph Legal, who thought that French Jesuits would be a good fit to steward the new institution’s educational mission. However, it was Archbishop Henry Joseph O’Leary who ultimately brought that idea to fruition, recruiting the Christian Brothers to undertake the task. That decision proved fraught with difficulties, as they turned out to be unprepared to teach at the collegiate level and unsuccessful at attracting top students. After a group of alumni stirred up controversy, the Christian Brothers were compelled to leave and were replaced by the Basilian Fathers. Munro expertly handles his account of these transformative shifts, diligently tracking the college’s development over time. Much of his history looks at administrative details, especially with respect to the institution’s residency, chaplaincy, physical grounds, and recurring financial challenges. These sections will likely only interest those with an intimate connection to the college, or readers with a stake in learning how a new college establishes itself. The broader, more gripping context, though, involves the college’s core mission, which was the subject of intramural disputes for a considerable portion of its history. O’Leary envisioned St. Joseph’s not as a stand-alone college, but as an adjunct to secular University of Alberta; he understood it as a means to not only strengthen the faith of young Catholics experiencing a secular education, but also to provide a humanistic education that wasn’t obsessively geared toward future employment. This is how President Father Smith saw the college’s principal objective: “Father Smith realized how ironic it was that the more secular the western world became, the more vital the need for Catholic higher education.” More than just a history, this book is also an account of the Catholic Church’s desire to remain relevant to young people in a world that doesn’t always embrace ancient principles. Munro maintains an elegant, readable style, and every page is a testament to the love he clearly has for St. Joseph’s.
Although much of this book may not appeal to a general audience, its theme of Catholicism’s modern-day appeal in is a timely one.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4602-7214-5
Page Count: 570
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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