John Hudson

Enjoyable Escape

Revisado: 09-01-24

This was an enjoyable escape from heavier, more serious reading while recovering from surgery. Purely entertaining and good enough to convince me to continue to Book II.

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An Historiographic Gem

Revisado: 04-06-23

Professor Appleby fashioned an ambitious title for this work, and he delivers brilliantly. First, though, I would urge potential listeners to disregard a previous review, which appears below. The title of the review suggests that Appleby’s work is an editorial rather than a history; I can assure you that Appleby has written no editorial, and in fact has produced a historiographic gem revealing the fascinating drama of the Roman Catholic Church in America, as well as key Catholic figures who built and shaped the Catholic Church in America. As to the actual review—which is in complete contradiction to the title of the review—a simple consideration of Appleby’s title makes clear that his work is historiography. This is a work of history; not evangelism, not apologetics, but history written by a skilled and eminently qualified historian. If one wants evangelism and Catholic living, might I suggest the works of Archbishop Fulton Sheen? If one wants apologetics, perhaps Scott Hahn might be more to one’s liking. But for anyone interested in the story of the Roman Catholic Church in the British Colonies and the new Nation, “American Catholicism: The History of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and the Lives of America’s Great Catholics” is an extraordinary and enjoyable work. One could rightly quibble with the performance—and specifically with the narrator’s style, rhythm, and mispronunciations—but one cannot fault the historiography. This is a valuable and much needed contribution to what until now has been a neglected aspect of American religious history.

John H. Hudson, Ph.D.

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