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Rating: 
Summary: Terse But Sketchy Biography of a Great Saint
Review: Edmund Campion is a saint more often enshrined in myth and legend than he is in historical fact, and it is for this reason that Evelyn Waugh states in his introduction why he set out to write this book about (at that time) a nearly forgotten martyr. Yet Waugh's training as a novelist rather than a historian begins to show quite quickly as one flies through the well written but shallow history of England's greatest martyr, save Thomas Becket and Thomas More. The scant historical depth to the biography may either be a product of Waugh's instinctive tendency to tell a story rather than teach, or, more appropriately, the lack of hard data on the life of Campion. Mind you, this book is definitely a good read and worth buying, but to the reader uneducated in Elizabethan England this book may not go historically far enough. My congratulations and gratitude are nonetheless given to Waugh for providing us with the only biography of a historically neglected saint.
Rating: 
Summary: A compelling Witness for Belief
Review: I first read this book after having exited the anguish of a doubting Christianity into the calm of a composed agnosticism 40 years ago.I return to this book again and again and probably re-read it every 3-4 years. Never missing an opportunity to recommend it. It reads like a thriller. The story unfolds inexorably to its inevitable climax, from the scholarly peace of Oxford where Campion was a foremost scholar of genius in the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, to its ultimately savage and bloody end on the gallows at Tyburn. The story could be seen by some as one of undoubting faith. By others, perhaps, as a story of a scholar obligated by an absolute intellectual integrity and then driven helplessly, to his destiny, by an academically remorseless logic after his conclusion of the fallibilities of the reformation. Whichever view one takes Campion was a hero in voice and in deed. His life was a poem. His writings those of genius - his ringing words still echo. Evelyn Waugh, a convert himself, tells a story as good as any fiction but far more compelling and sobering because of the true biography that it is.
Rating:
Summary: Jesuit & Martyr
Review: If there is a fault to this book, it is that it is too short. Waugh writes this work of history as one would a novel. However, there is plenty of historical detail. Nonetheless, in an effort to make the book more readable, Waugh has left out the footnotes and endnotes. That being said, it is probably the best book we presently have on St. Edmund Campion. Edmund Campion was well known amongst Elizabethan circles, including Queen Elizabeth herself. He was lauded for his intelligence and wit and no one could match him in debate. Edmund gave up what looked like a promising career in academics to become a Catholic. He studied at the College at Douai and became a Jesuit. However, at this time, it was like trading one acadamic pursuit for another. Edmund was doing quite well at a professorship in Prague when he was called to go to England to minister to the Catholics who had not forgotten their faith. He was not sent as a spy but as a minister to the faithful. This Edmund did. He did it so well, traveling about in disguise, that he eluded capture for some time. In the end, Edmund comes to a martyr's death (I leave it to Waugh to explain the details). I judge a book, mainly, on whether I have attained anything good from its contents. Waugh's telling of the story of Edmund Campion has moved me. St. Edmund Campion died as did Christ, asking the forgiveness the very men who were to so cruelly slay him in front of a jeering public. I'm very pleased I was able to find a copy of this book for my library. Most importantly, I'm very happy that I was able to learn something about this great saint. Your effort to do the same will be well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Jesuit & Martyr
Review: If there is a fault to this book, it is that it is too short. Waugh writes this work of history as one would a novel. However, there is plenty of historical detail. Nonetheless, in an effort to make the book more readable, Waugh has left out the footnotes and endnotes. That being said, it is probably the best book we presently have on St. Edmund Campion. Edmund Campion was well known amongst Elizabethan circles, including Queen Elizabeth herself. He was lauded for his intelligence and wit and no one could match him in debate. Edmund gave up what looked like a promising career in academics to become a Catholic. He studied at the College at Douai and became a Jesuit. However, at this time, it was like trading one acadamic pursuit for another. Edmund was doing quite well at a professorship in Prague when he was called to go to England to minister to the Catholics who had not forgotten their faith. He was not sent as a spy but as a minister to the faithful. This Edmund did. He did it so well, traveling about in disguise, that he eluded capture for some time. In the end, Edmund comes to a martyr's death (I leave it to Waugh to explain the details). I judge a book, mainly, on whether I have attained anything good from its contents. Waugh's telling of the story of Edmund Campion has moved me. St. Edmund Campion died as did Christ, asking the forgiveness the very men who were to so cruelly slay him in front of a jeering public. I'm very pleased I was able to find a copy of this book for my library. Most importantly, I'm very happy that I was able to learn something about this great saint. Your effort to do the same will be well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Starts slow but wll worth it
Review: Waugh's details of Campion's European whereabouts gets a bit tedious but once Campion returns to England you can't put the book down. Waugh leaves you thinking which queen rightfully deserves the adjective Bloody.
Rating:
Summary: Starts slow but wll worth it
Review: Waugh's details of Campion's European whereabouts gets a bit tedious but once Campion returns to England you can't put the book down. Waugh leaves you thinking which queen rightfully deserves the adjective Bloody.
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