Biographies/Autobiographies
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings took first place in several nationwide British polls on the "greatest book of the century". He may be the most popular writer of our age, but Tolkien is often misunderstood. This major new study of his life, his character, and his work reveals the facts and confronts the myths. It explores the man's background and the culture in which he wrote.
Tolkien: Man and Myth observes the relationships that the master writer had with his closest literary colleagues. It sheds light on his unique relationship with C. S. Lewis, the writer of the Narnia books, and the roots of their eventual estrangement.
In this original book about a leading literary life, Joseph Pearce enters the world that Tolkien created in the seven books published during his lifetime. He explores the significance of Middle Earth and what it represented in Tolkien's thinking. Myth, to this legendary author, was not a leap from reality but a leap into reality.
The impact of Tolkien's great notoriety, his relationship with material possessions, and his deep religious faith are all examined at length in this biography, making it possible to understand both the man and the myth that he created.
Unleashing Hope draws you into the powerful life of Luisa de Ia Pena Navarro (1886-1937), "Mother Luisita," a petite woman from a small town in Jalisco, Mexico, who devoted her entire life to serving the poor, the sick, and especially the children. She established schools, hospitals, and orphanages at a time when it was against the law to even be a Catholic. Gripping historical events including revolution, religious persecution, and the Cristiada reveal her as a spiritual mother who brought healing and hope. After her husband's death, Mother Luisita answered God's call to establish a new Carmelite community that would "stand in the presence of the Living God, and with Mary make known the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" to a world suffering the wounds of sin and division.
Unleashing Hope comes at a time in history when the world must reset its moral compass and rediscover the beauty and dignity of each person and the joy and healing that comes through living in God's abiding presence. You will not easily forget Mother Luisita and her compelling life story.
Here is the book that you need to "live in hope" in uncertain times. This seminal biography of Venerable Luisa de la Pea Navarro (1866-1937), "Mother Luisita," reveals gripping historical events and stories of the atrocious persecution of Catholics in Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s. Mother Luisita's Carmelite spirituality, illuminating each page, will remind you that God has your back and keeps His promises. Mother's life and late religious vocation bears witness that it is never too late to begin, that you can trust God, and He will never abandon you.
You will learn how Mother formed her sisters to prepare a dwelling place for God within. This helped them withstand violence and remain faithful in the face of death, when they had to flee for their lives repeatedly. There were times when they had no food or money, but God always provided.
Mother Luisita is still a beloved spiritual mother to the faithful in Jalisco, Mexico, and beyond, and memories of her holiness and kindness continue to bring hope and healing. Included in this biography are firsthand testimonies, Mother's inspirational maxims, excerpts from her letters, a prayer for her cause, and other compelling documents.
You will also learn about Mother's early life: her poor health from youth, her privileged background, and her marriage to a medical doctor, with whom she founded a hospital for the poor.
Fortify your faith as you read about Mother's adventures, trials, and joys in establishing two religious orders - the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles and the Carmelitas del Sagrado Corazon de Mexico - as well as numerous foundations and institutions. The work of the Sisters proceeded even during a smallpox epidemic and periods when it was illegal to be Catholic in Mexico.
Discover the truth about the atrocities that the faithful suffered during the Mexican Revolution through a rare testimony of a Carmelite religious superior before the U.S. Congress.
Best of all, you will be encouraged by Mother's:
Documentation for a potential miracle wrought by Mother Luisita is presently being investigated.
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
"A remarkable book. Weigel's biography is likely to remain the standard one-volume reference on John Paul II for many years to come." -- Pittsburg Post-Gazette
?"Fascinating. . . sheds light on the history of the twentieth century for everyone." --New York Times Book Review
The definitive biography of Pope John Paul II that explores how influential he was on the world stage and in some of the most historic events of the twentieth century that can still be felt today
Witness to Hope is the authoritative biography of one of the singular figures--some might argue the singular figure--of our time. With unprecedented cooperation from John Paul II and the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of the Pope as a man, a thinker, and a leader whose religious convictions defined a new approach to world politics--and changed the course of history. As even his critics concede, John Paul II occupied a unique place on the world stage and put down intellectual markers that no one could ignore or avoid as humanity entered a new millennium fraught with possibility and danger.
The Pope was a man of prodigious energy who played a crucial, yet insufficiently explored, role in some of the most momentous events of our time, including the collapse of European communism, the quest for peace in the Middle East, and the democratic transformation of Latin America. With an updated preface, this edition of Witness to Hope explains how this "man from a far country" did all of that, and much more--and what both his accomplishments and the unfinished business of his pontificate mean for the future of the Church and the world.