The Story of Civilization: Volume II (TAN Books)

Memorial Day has come and gone. That means summer is officially here. If you're a parent who sends their children to school, you are probably counting down when your children will be going back to school. On the other hand, if you are a homeschooling parent, you are already plotting next year's curriculum. If you don't have a good history program in place yet, allow me to give you a brief review of The Story of Civilization: Volume II. The volume begins with an introduction explaining how history is like an epic book or movie series, i.e., The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, or Star Wars. Since history is a long period of time, it works better to divide it into manageable chunks. The first division is entitled the Ancient World and the second division is called the Medieval World. The Medieval World starts shortly after the passage of the Edict of Milan and the spread of Christianity, and this is the product I would like to tell you about.

The volume then begins where the previous one left off. With the early spread of Christianity, we also see the spread of heresies and Christendom fighting against them. In addition to heretical priests, there were also emperors trying to exert their will over the Church and steer it in their direction and not the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Western Roman Empire then falls, and all that is left is the Eastern Roman Empire with Justinian. After this we see St. Benedict and his rule, the Irish missionaries, and the rise of the Islamic world. The volume continues on to show us the Crusades, Avignon and the papal controversy, the Hundred Years War, War of the Roses, and an early glimpse at the Renaissance. Apart from the lively storytelling nature of this text, I appreciate the honesty of it. "History is written by the winners," so it would have been easy to whitewash the black marks of the Church, but this text shows us the whole picture, for better or worse.

In addition to a text book, if you buy the whole The Story of Civilization: Volume II pack, you will receive CDs, streaming lectures, an activity book, a test book, a timeline, and a teacher's manual. I have not received all of these to review, but I would like to tell you about the test book and the timeline. The test book has a test for each lesson and the questions are a mix of matching, true/false, and multiple choice. By sticking with this format, you can test a wide-range of students. You also have an objective way to score them, opposed to short answer/essays. That is not to say that you shouldn't give your children additional "tests," but the test book serves its purpose and is a good barometer to how much your child learned/retained. The timeline is a nice large laminated sheet that fits nicely on a wall. On one side is a timeline that provides you a comprehensive and sequential view of what your child is learning. This helps to crystallize the concepts for them. On the other side is a "trivia" section, which your kids might find to be a fun game. Overall, this is a great series for the homeschooling parent, and one I would gladly recommend.

This product was provided to me for free by TAN Books in exchange for an honest review.

Alamo All-Stars (Abrams Books)

Alamo All-Stars is the sixth book in Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series. The book begins very abruptly with talk of settling Texas. This is a departure from their usual lead-in of Nathan Hale, trying to stay his execution by telling a historical tale. However, it leads us to an introduction of Vicente Guerrero, who like Nathan Hale, is telling historical tales to try and stay his execution. This leads us to a mashup story, told from the side of the United States and Mexico.

Within this book, we see characters like General Santa Anna, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and Stephen Austin. We also learn about the history of Texas' statehood and of course, the famous Battle of the Alamo. The story is really helped by the addition of Guerrero into this tale and helps adds perspective from both sides, which is something that is generally lacking in American History textbooks. On the inside of the book, we are presented with two maps. The first map is a layout out of the Alamo in 1836, which makes the stand all the more impressive. The second map is a military map that shows us all the battles fought in the Texas Revolution. At the end of the book are actual images of historical figures in this book and other resources, your child can read to learn more about this historic event.

Like the rest of the books in this series, this book is a graphic novel in format. The illustration style is inviting, and I believe young boys in particular will really get a lot out of this series. The book does a nice job of mixing humor into the history to make it more compelling and come alive off the page. I cannot recommend this series enough.

This book was provided to me for free by Abrams Books in exchange for an honest review.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales (Abrams Books)

History was always one of my least favorite subjects in school. It never felt like I was taught anything interesting. It was just a large collection of important people, places, and dates. Anytime, there was something that remotely piqued my interest, it was glossed over or ignored. I believe a lot of people my age felt this way, and that if you asked someone what they most remembered from history they could tell you one of two things - "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue," or some variation of "If you don't learn history, you're doomed to repeat it." Since I have become a parent, I have thought a lot about the future education of my children. and making sure they get a better education than I did. That's not to say that mine was bad, but I can look back on it now and see how it could have been better. One way I would do that is to make history fun, and I have found the best way to do that is with a Living History curriculum and texts that capture the reader's attention. A book series I have found that accomplished that is called Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales is a five (soon to be six) volume set. The books in the set are as follows:

One Dead Spy - A Revolutionary War Tale
Big Bad Ironclad! - A Civil War Tale
Donner Dinner Party - A Pioneer Tale
Treaties, Trenches, Mud and Blood - A World War I Tale
The Underground Abductor - An Abolitionist Tale
Alamo All-Stars - A Texas Tale

For those unfamiliar with who Nathan Hale was, he was a soldier for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Nathan Hale is also the name of the author of this series of books. In Book 1 - One Dead Spy, Nathan Hale, the historical figure, is scheduled to be executed for being a spy. A British soldier is looking for the execution papers, and a hangman (the comic relief) is trying to help Hale come up with famous last words to say. Hale finally says, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." His memorable words caused a "Big Huge Book of American History" to appear and absorb Hale into it. Then, Hale instantly reappeared with all knowledge of American history including future history. This turns into the whole premise/running gag of the series. At the beginning of every book, the Brit and the hangman are planning to hang Hale, but he regales them with a tale of American history or what would in reality be the future to them.

The books themselves are told in graphic novel/comic book format. That means it visually draws you and feels more like reading a story than listening to a history lesson. The historical figures interact with one another, and it is not reading something in the third person. Throughout the Hazardous Tales, there are lots of interruptions by the three members mentioned above, which provides the reader with context and depth when needed. It also serves to lighten the mood at times, so the reader forgets that they are not only reading for fun, but learning something too! Of the current five books, the one I enjoyed the best was Donner Dinner Party, because who doesn't love a tale about cannibalism? :)

Now, I would like to address what I like and dislike about the series. I will start with what I dislike, because there isn't much I dislike. At times, there is some disrespectful language. It's not vulgar, but I guess sassy would be the right word. The children in Donner Dinner Party are at times disrespectful towards their parents and wish their older sister would shut up about her pony. Your kids are going to be exposed to that kind of sass, but you can let them know that is a trait that will not be tolerated in your house, so that's my biggest gripe.

What I liked about this book is the level of detail, which I will explain as best I can. For starters, the inside covers of the book have a map of the United States and what it looked like for the year the book takes place. One Dead Spy's map is 1775; Donner Dinner Party's map is 1846; and so on. The front of each book has differing flags, depending on the era for the book. One Dead Spy has an American flag with 13 stars on one side and a British flag on the other side. Big Bad Ironclad! has an American flag on one side and a Confederate flag on the other side. On the back of the book is a "Hazard Level," which is basically a warning of what your children will encounter. For example, Big Bad Ironclad! has a Hazard Level Red for Explosive. This level includes "blockade-runners, privateers, burning shipyards, underwater toilets, Swedish swearing, ironclad battleships, and a bomb on a stick." I also love that at the end of the book there is actual factual history, questions about why some parts were included and other parts excluded, and a bibliography for the book. Even all these facets are done in an engaging way to not break character and keep history light and fun, but also accurate.

I honestly was not sure what to expect from these books when I received them. I thought they would either be dry stories that the author attempted to make interesting or so far off the wall that there would be no literary value to them. However, I was pleasantly surprised by them, and they more than exceeded my expectations. Hale (the author, not the historical figure) carefully picked his subjects for each book to ensure he started with a compelling historical account. He then even more carefully researched the history to make the story as close to factual as the records were able to verify. What he ended up producing is a series that I hope has no end in sight. So who are these books for? I would say a child in 3rd grade, perhaps 2nd if an advanced reader would be a good starting age for these books. I hate to put an age cap on them because tastes vary and some middle schoolers might feel they are too grown up for them, but conversely, some high schoolers might love them. Each child is different. I do think that these are more boy books than girl books, because of the comic format and tendency for the comics to skew a bit gruesome at times. But don't rule them out if you only have girls, check one out at a library and if they love them, buy them! These belong in the classroom and on the home bookshelf, as your child will want to read them multiple times. Highly recommended!

These books were provided to me for free by Abrams Books in exchange for honest reviews!

The Catholic Almanac and Would you Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (Image Books)

Image Books is a publisher I'm pretty loyal too. When I first started my blog, they were one of the companies that took a chance on me and provided me with free review copies of books. I don't always agree with everything that they publish, but I could say that about each and every publisher. Today, I am going to be featuring two of their Fall 2014 books, and yes I am embarrassed it took me this long to review them. The two books are The Catholic Almanac and Would you Baptize an Extraterrestrial?.

The Catholic Almanac is more than a book. It is a daily journey through American Catholic history. Each of the 365 days highlights a specific Catholic person and something that ties them to that specific date (birth, death, ordination, etc.). For example on January 15, 1844, the Indiana Legislature granted Fr. Edward Sorin a college charter, and that was the birth of Notre Dame. The beauty of this book is that there are both famous and ordinary people highlighted in this book; people who were great Catholics and people who had some general connection to Catholics. Some of the names in this book are John F. Kennedy, Al Capone, and Jack Kerouac to name a few.

The book is what I call an appetizer book. It whets your appetite, gets you interested in a specific person/subject, and hopefully leads you to read more about the specific person/subject. The best use of this book I see is in a Catholic classroom or a homeschool setting. It is also just an interesting read if you are a history buff. Just so we're clear, this book is not a devotional, but it is a book you can read after your daily devotional (if you are the daily devotional type). Another minor pet peeve of mine is that there is no February 29th. I know it only comes up every four years, but it would have been nice to have unless nothing interesting was found for that day. Four stars!

Would you Baptize an Extraterrestrial? is a unique book in conversation style between two Jesuits, Brother Guy Consolmagno and Father Paul Mueller, who work on the research staff at the Vatican Observatory. The fact that the Vatican has an observatory is pretty awesome in and of itself. There are six conversations in all:

1. Biblical Genesis or Scientific Big Bang?
2. What Happened to Poor Pluto?
3. What Really Happened to Galileo?
4. What Was the Star of Bethlehem?
5. What's Going to Happen When the World Ends?
6. Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?

Questions Four was most interesting to me, as I have read many explanations on the Star of Bethlehem before. Brother Guy and Father Paul address most of the planetary alignment theories and the possibility of the star being a nova or supernova. They never tell you what the answer is, because honestly they don't know the answer. Instead, they show you that science is able to provide a lot of possible explanations to something that so many people doubt. (I personally believe that it was the Holy Spirit and not a physical star, but to each their own.) This book isn't going to give you simple black and white answers to these complicated questions. Instead, it is going to invite you to stop trying to separate and compartmentalize science and faith from one another and look at these questions in light of both. This is just one of the ways the Catholic Church is more beautiful than Protestantism. We aren't a "one or the other" church, but a "both and" church.

Overall, I would give this book four stars. It is intelligent, but accessible. It is clever, but conversational. At times when they went off topic to talk about pizza or whatever, I found myself wishing they would stick to the matter at hand, and that is why I took a star away from it. These men, however, know what they are talking about, so I can see this broadly appealing to a wide audience. It might not answer all your questions, but it will open your mind and make you think more, which is never a bad thing.

These two books were provided to me for free by Image Books in exchange for an honest review. If you found the reviews helpful, click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Our Island Story (Naxos Audiobooks)

Our Island Story is the second audiobook I received for review from Naxos Audiobooks. While, Naxos Audiobooks has a good variety of audiobook genres, my personal favorite is their unabridged selection, which contains a great many works of classic literature including Dante, Homer, Shakespeare, etc. For those unfamiliar with the premise of Our Island Story, it is a sort of history book of England. However, it is more than boring dates and facts, it is a history book for kids, so it is more lively; playful; and at times, embellished. The author is Henrietta Elizabeth (H.E.) Lawrence. She shortened it to the two initials, so that she could conceal her gender. She also wrote other works, which dealt with other parts of the "Empire," such as Canada, India, and Australia. While these works are all in public domain now, I believe most are long out of print.

The beginning of Our Island Story immediately draws the reader, both young and old, further into the book, as it traces England's origin all the way back to Greek mythology. Neptune and his wife, Amphitrite, had several sons. As each son became old enough, they were given an island to rule over. Neptune and Amphitrite love their fourth son, Albion, the best, so they felt he had to have the BEST island. Therefore, all the mermen and mermaids had to scour the globe, until a suitable island was found. Eventually, an island was chosen and named Albion. Eventually, it was conquered and renamed Britannia. We know it today as England. Now, of course this is completely mythological and made up, but it is a fascinating and makes you want to keep reading.

After this tale, we dive into several chapters on the Romans and Britain. It seems that early on the Romans were always invading and conquering Britain. Yet, the Romans never stayed and set up rulers, so they kept returning, and according to the author Britain always survived. You start to notice early on that this is a very biased book toward Britain, which is to be expected, but can be a bit annoying at times to the non-British reader. Other biases that pop up are pro-Protestant/anti-Catholic bias. I won't walk you through the entire book, as that would take pages to accomplish. The main driver of the book was monarchs. There was occasional deviation from this theme, like when they talked about the Industrial Revolution, but it was a very royal-centric work. I appreciate there being some mention of King Arthur, but I have to admit that part of me wanted a little more. The book ends with the reign of Queen Victoria, Britain's longest reigning monarch and the last of House of Hanover.

As for the presentation of this audiobook, I was pleasantly surprised. There were two narrators in this audiobook - Anna Bentinck and Daniel Philpott. It's always weird to me when there are two different narrators in a book, but somehow they made it work. I had a personal preference for Mr. Philpott over Ms. Bentinck, but that's just me. They both were very lively in their reading, and despite the biases I mentioned earlier, they made me want to keep listening. As I listened to these in my car, I found myself disappointed whenever I arrived at my destination. My wife is an English history buff, so she absolutely raved about this book. I can't wait to share it with my children when they are older, as it is a very approachable way to teach a subject that many consider boring. So whether you are someone who likes history mixed with some mythology/legend, or are a homeschooling parent looking for a way to get your kids interested in history, you will enjoy this book. And it's also available on Audible, if you prefer your books on the cloud,

This book was provided to me for free by Naxos Audiobooks in exchange for an honest review.

The People of Ancient Israel (Angelico Press)

The People of Ancient Israel is the shortest book in Dorothy Mills' six volume history set, spanning only 210 pages. The book begins by describing the land of Palestine, including its size, terrain, vegetation, and climate. Ms. Mills then briefly details both the Hebrew Scriptures and "tales" such as Creation, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. She points out that the world owes a great deal to the Hebrews, because they taught the world about God in their writings.

After these few brief chapters, we reach the main focus of this book - the people. Of course we start with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Included in this section is a lot of what you would find in Scripture. However, there is also some personal commentary on certain topics, like why Abraham would listen to God and agree to sacrifice his son Isaac. Her reasoning and viewpoint seems centered on cultural reasons for this near-sacrifice and that Abraham obtained the idea from culture and not from God. She also doesn't say that God sent an angel to stop the sacrifice, but that Abraham reached a level of understanding that this sacrifice would not be pleasing to God. That is definitely one way of looking at it, but not how I would teach it.

After the Patriarchs is mention of Joseph and Moses. Following Moses, we begin to see the nation of Israel take shape with their wandering in the desert. The reason for this is because they were issued the Law (or the Ten Commandments). The nation finally gets roots with their conquest of Canaan, and leaders (also known as Judges) ruled over the people. Ms. Mills talks about several of the more famous judges, primarily Samson and Ruth. The nation then becomes a kingdom under Saul, who was followed by David and then Solomon. The most interesting sections to me dealt with the Divided Kingdom, Israel's fall, and their time in captivity.

The book then ends with "In the fulness if time, the Teacher came. At Bethlehem, in the days of Herod the King, seventy years before the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ was born, who by his life and teaching made possible the fulfilment of the ancient visions." I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, Dorothy Mills does a nice job making history interesting and come alive. On the other hand, there are a few troubling statements in the book. Overall, I would give this book 4 stars.

This book was provided to me for free by Angelico Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Church Ascending (Sophia Institute Press)

The Church Ascending is the latest work by Dr. Diane Moczar and the second I have read in the past two years. The first work I read of hers was The Church Under Attack. By all accounts, The Church Ascending could be considered a prequel to The Church Under Attack, because "Ascending" covers the 1st Century to the 14th Century, and "Under Attack" covered the 16th Century to modern time. Since this is my second time reading Dr. Moczar's work, I feel I have more realistic expectations going in. She also provides a helpful introduction on what this book is and is not for those not familiar with her writings. In a nutshell, Dr. Moczar is a Catholic historian. There will be some pro-Catholic bias, but it's not overwhelming. The book is meant to give the reader a basic view of Church History, not exhaustive by any means. The reader is supposed to be enticed by the glimpses they see to want to read and study more, about certain people or events.

The book is divided into seven periods - Beginnings, Dark Ages, End of the Dark Ages, Early Middle Ages, Twelfth Century, Thirteenth Century, and Late Middle Ages. Each period has two chapters devoted to it. The first chapter for each period gives you a taste of key people or events from that period. The second chapter for each period focuses on the Catholic thought and culture during that time. Each chapter contains little boxes of information that provide extra bits of knowledge related to a specific topic. For example, we learn a little bit about Arius and his heresy when Dr. Moczar talks about the Dark Ages. Honestly, my favorite part of this book was the suggested reading at the end of every chapter. Since Dr. Moczar is only able to provide a taste of the first fourteen centuries of Catholicism in these 175 pages, these suggestions will go a long way in satisfying your hunger for more information.

I was most intrigued reading about the Dark Ages. It is not a period I know a lot about, but this gave me a little bit of insight into what went on during this time and how we actually fell into the Dark Ages. It was also fascinating to read a brief section on Attila the Hun and made me want to read more about him and why he was the way he was. The downside of this book was the lack of information regarding Eastern Christendom and the Eastern Roman Empire. Since the Eastern Roman Empire was not conquered by the barbarians, their culture still flourished. I understand that it would be impossible to cover everything, but it does make you a bit disappointed that the book was so Western focused. There was also very little information on the Great Schism. Like The Church Under Attack, this book left me wanting more. 4 stars.

This book was provided to me for free by Sophia Institute Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Book of the Ancient World (Angelico Press)

If you're a homeschooling mom (or dad) or one considering homeschooling, then you know there are a TON of curriculum options out there. Some are better than others, but it really boils down to what style of homeschooling you are going to employ. If you are taking the classical approach, like my wife and I intend to do, then you definitely know the name Dorothy Mills. Dorothy Mills wrote a six book series on ancient history. Two different publishers have taken the time to re-print these, Memoria Press and Angelico Press. Even though Memoria Press has student and teacher guides, you can purchase with them, they only have four of the six volumes. Personally, I prefer the Angelico Press editions after all and will be reviewing one volume every other month on my blog. Today, I am starting with The Book of the Ancient World.

The Book of the Ancient World begins with an Introduction that speaks of cave men and prehistoric times. It speaks of making stone tools and how some people don't believe history really started until man was able to keep written records. I'm honestly unsure how I felt about this introduction, but thankfully it was short and something you could skip over and not miss anything in the book. The contents of the rest of the book includes the Egyptians; the Assyrians and Babylonians; the Hebrews; the Hittites; the Persians; and the Phoenicians. Egypt by far gets the most attention as it spans over 50 pages. The rest of the ancient people, with the exception of Israel, only garnered about 20-25 pages.

It was hard to pick a favorite part in this book. The level of detail given to the Egyptians was fascinating. Ms. Mills didn't just discuss popular pharaohs and their pyramids, but she also covered their gods, their books and writings, what typical life consisted of in Egypt, and even how children lived in Egypt. She also did a truly great job addressing Israel. In this section, she included the Patriarchs, the three kings (Saul, David, and Solomon), and the Divided Kingdom. I am truly fascinated to see what level of detail she went into in her book, The People of Ancient Israel. I wish more information would have been included on places like Persia and Phoenicia, but I appreciate that there was additional reading suggestions at the end. The one that I wish there had been more of/any of was maps! Maps would have definitely elevated this book, and perhaps they were there in the original edition, but not in this reprint.

After reading through this book, I feel much more knowledgeable about the ancient world. Yes, some information may be a tad dated as we have made new finds regarding these ancient worlds, but that doesn't take away from the quality of this work or the information that Dorothy Mills compiled. And while the book won't make you a certified expert, it will provide you a great starting point on the subject. So if you are an adult looking for an introduction to the ancient world or a teacher/parent looking for a supplemental text to your history book, you will find this book to be extremely helpful. I imagine you could use it as the skeleton for your homeschool history, but you will definitely want to find some more resources to add meat to the bones.

This book was provided to me for free by Angelico Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Sophia Institute Press: The Church Under Attack

History was never one of my favorite subjects in high school or college. I'd even go so far to say that it was a thorn in my side. Part of my attitude toward history derived from the fact that textbooks are usually just a dry presentation of dates and facts. Perhaps a greater cause of my apathy/disdain toward the subject was that it seemed like I was always studying American History, with the attitude that nothing else happened in the world. I did learn at least one valuable piece of advice when reading history: "History is written by the winners." I tried to keep that in mind when reviewing this book, as it's easy to ignore biases in history and just accept what you read and are told.

The Church Under Attack is Dr. Diane Moczar's latest release. For those of you who have not heard of her before, Dr. Moczar is a Catholic historian. This is an important distinction to be aware of before reading this book, as it means the book will be written from a pro-Catholic perspective. This is not unheard of in the field of history, but it is rare. In her book, she provides a brief glimpse of the previous five centuries (1500s-1900s) and how the Church has been attacked throughout the ages.

The author starts off remarking about how crammed the Sixteenth Century was with happenings.  She states that there isn't enough room to record all of the events that occurred during this time and even proclaimed, "Stop doing things! Leave something for the next century!" That made sense to me, and I appreciated her condensing her thoughts on the Sixteenth Century to 24 pages. However, she then proceeds to devote 43 pages to the Seventeenth Century. That seemed a bit backwards to me. I personally would have loved to read more about the Sixteenth Century, as opposed to the Seventeenth Century, but that's a personal preference. The book then works its way through Reformations; Revolutionary Wars, both French and American; World Wars, and the Cold War. There was a ton of information packed in these 200+ pages.

There were several aspects I liked about this book, but the biggest one was that the author doesn't present you with a "just the facts" approach to history. She makes it interesting and fun with a bit of snarkiness, i.e., referring to the Protestant Reformation as the Protestant Revolution. I also appreciated her focus on Mary's impact on historical events as well as the holy men and women throughout the centuries. This served as a reminder that there were still people fighting for what was right in the world when others weren't.

Overall, I would give this book 4 stars. It's impossible to write a lively history text like this one, without some sort of bias. Don't mistake me. I greatly appreciated the author presenting the Catholic Church in an almost entirely positive light., and it was refreshing to read a history text without a clear bias against the Church. However, if you read a Protestant history text on the Reformation, I imagine you would get a completely different viewpoint than the Catholic viewpoint in this book. With that said, this is still a fruitful read and would be a great book for home-schooled students. It could also serve as a good supplemental text for your high school or college student to read and counter their dry and generally anti-Catholic textbook.

If you found this review helpful, please click the link and hit Yes!

Our Sunday Visitor: Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History

Welcome back to Stuart's Study. Today, I am reviewing a history nerd's dream book - Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History. Before I open up a book to read and review, I make a mental list (sometimes physical list if the book is long enough) of topics, aspects, and features that I expect to be included. If something is missing from my list upon completion of the reading, then it can lower the rating I give it. My method definitely helped review this encyclopedia.

Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History is an up-to-date and thorough single-volume encyclopedia that lives up to its name. Before I even cracked open the book, I was hoping that there would be some sort of timeline in it. Well, the first thing after the Table of Contents is a chronology that begins in 1492 and ends in 2011. This chronology featured important events that took place, like the first martyr in the United States or the birth of Elizabeth Ann Seton. Also included in this chronology were negative events in our history, like the clerical sex abuse scandal. I appreciate that Mr. Bunson did not ignore these warts in our history. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

After the chronology, there are approximately 1,000 pages of alphabetized information, spanning from "Abbelen, Peter M." to "Zumarraga, Juan de." I would be lying if I told you that I read every article in this massive tome. I instead chose topics that I knew about already, like my Archdiocese for example, and read these entries to see how accurate they were. Of the many articles I did read, the information was spot on and did not disappoint. Unlike most encyclopedias, this one was  lacking on images. There are some, but they are just sketches, so that was a bit of a disappointment.

After the articles, there are four appendices in this encyclopedia:  "Missionaries to the Americas," "Saints of the Americas," "Catholics in Statuary Hall," and the most interesting one to me "Cathedrals, Basilicas, and Shrines in the U.S." The first two appendices would be good starting places for reading articles in this work, but the last appendix would be a good vacation planner. Simply look up a state; see what cathedrals, basilicas, or shrines they have; and then plan a pilgrimage for your family or parish.

Overall, I would give this encyclopedia 5 stars merely for the fact that it even exists. It wasn't perfect, and information is always changing, but it serves its purpose. I would say though that the audience for this book is limited. I could see a history or religion teacher or even a history enthusiast wanting to own it, but who else? The only audience that I could think of is parents who homeschool. When your child is studying a certain point in U.S. history, they can supplement their studies with this book and see what was going on in the Catholic Church of the U.S. during this same time period. For example, without this book, your child might never learn that 500+ Catholic nuns helped tend to the sick and wounded during the Civil War.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.