A superficial treatment of the patron saint of hopeless causes. Trotta (Fighting for Air: In the Trenches with Television News, 1991), New York bureau chief of the Washington Times, paints herself as a hard-nosed reporter who, as a lapsed Catholic, is an unusual author for a book on a Catholic saint. But the book shows few of those hard edges; if anything, it’s ahistorical, sentimental, and shallow. Part of this is due to Trotta’s neglect of other studies of Jude. Near the beginning, she claims that —there is virtually no study of him, either in the scholarly or popular sense.— But just because Trotta hasn—t done her homework doesn—t mean that the definitive book on Jude isn—t already out there: It’s the vastly superior Thank You, Saint Jude, by Robert Orsi. Trotta, for example, mentions more than once that middle-age women (like her own mother) are often the most avid proponents of Jude; Orsi spends chapters explaining why 20th-century American women had few other recourses. Trotta tells the memorable stories of Jude’s healings and miracles with a journalist’s sensationalism; Orsi approaches them with a keen ethnographic eye. And while Trotta is the professional writer, Orsi’s book is actually more readable to boot; Trotta’s prose tries too hard with its overblown analogies and imagery (—Jude wafts above the roaring crowd, dodging the spotlight—). Orsi addresses Judean devotion primarily from the Depression through Vatican II, while Trotta’s book explores contemporary Jude veneration in several cities. She does make the good point that Jude devotions seem to have increased since the iconoclastic reforms of Vatican II, as Catholics seek to replace some of the myth and magic of earlier rituals. But since she doesn—t offer any historical basis for comparison with pre—Vatican II devotions, the argument falls short. If you read one book on Jude, let it be Orsi’s. Trotta would do well to read it, too. (Author tour)
Pub Date: July 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-06-068274-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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