Rating: 
Summary: Mucius
Review: McBrien tries to compress almoat 2,000 years of religious, social and political history into one volume and does a pretty solid job. He gives anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages on the over 260 popes throughout history, with the bulk of his text spread out over the popes of the 20th century.For the most part, McBrien looks at the popes with a scholarly and critical eye, describing how most of the popes throughout history were preoccupied with political and military matters rather than spiritual ones. However, he does drift from a scholarly, critical examination from time to time. For example, I thought that he was improperly airing out his theological complaints against the current pope in his section on John Paul II (McBrien is theology chairman at Notre Dame), but I enjoyed his passage about the much-beloved pope, John XXIII. (can someone out there recommend any good books on this pope?) McBrien ends this reference work with some papal facts, like "best and worst" and "firsts and lasts" and has a chronological list, as well as an alphabetical list, of the popes. However, my favorite parts of this book were the introductions to each chronological period of papal history. McBrien gives a general picture of the mood of the day and how each pope dealt with military, political (and sometimes spiritual) issues of the day. He also takes a look at internal church politics and stresses that throughout history, popes were sometimes under control of kings, emperors, powerful families and groups of bishops and clergy. The book is a solid reference if you someone asks you who Pope Eugenius or Sixtus II was, and when they were popes. Since McBrien had 2,000 years of history to cover, it piqued my curiosity to learn more about these fascinating individuals and the times in which they lived.
Rating: 
Summary: A solid work with a few flaws
Review: McBrien tries to compress almoat 2,000 years of religious, social and political history into one volume and does a pretty solid job. He gives anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages on the over 260 popes throughout history, with the bulk of his text spread out over the popes of the 20th century. For the most part, McBrien looks at the popes with a scholarly and critical eye, describing how most of the popes throughout history were preoccupied with political and military matters rather than spiritual ones. However, he does drift from a scholarly, critical examination from time to time. For example, I thought that he was improperly airing out his theological complaints against the current pope in his section on John Paul II (McBrien is theology chairman at Notre Dame), but I enjoyed his passage about the much-beloved pope, John XXIII. (can someone out there recommend any good books on this pope?) McBrien ends this reference work with some papal facts, like "best and worst" and "firsts and lasts" and has a chronological list, as well as an alphabetical list, of the popes. However, my favorite parts of this book were the introductions to each chronological period of papal history. McBrien gives a general picture of the mood of the day and how each pope dealt with military, political (and sometimes spiritual) issues of the day. He also takes a look at internal church politics and stresses that throughout history, popes were sometimes under control of kings, emperors, powerful families and groups of bishops and clergy. I've even used this book to settle barroom discussions over popes and in August, 2002, when the press began to ask if Pope John Paul II was going to resign, I referenced this book when people were asking me if other popes have resigned in the past (they did, BTW). The book is a solid reference if you someone asks you who Pope Eugenius or Sixtus II was, and when they were popes. Since McBrien had 2,000 years of history to cover, it piqued my curiosity to learn more about these fascinating individuals and the times in which they lived.
Rating:
Summary: Shockingly slanted and unscholarly
Review: McBrien's treatment of the papacy is long on opinion and unacceptably short on accurate and complete historical references to the Doctors and Fathers of the Church. This does not read as a serious analysis, but instead it is more like a polemic.
Rating:
Summary: Historical Revisionism from a frustrated leftist.
Review: Mr. McBrien pushes a politically correct and 90's secular view of the world in this trying compendium. He is entirely unable to hide his leftist politics and prefers to attack orthodoxy wherever he sees it. Mr. McBrien commits the same sorry sin of pride which has marred man since Adam and continues with every other Christian who beleves himself wiser than Rome. Mr. McBrien's subversion is altogether sadder as his publications and TV appearances may harm those prone to the allure of modernist popularity. For those who reject liberal attempts to remodel the church to fit their own shortcomings, I highly recommend you avoid this tiresome tome.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly Not a History
Review: The author may be a theologian, but he's no historian. This book is poorly researched. It would appear he spent time looking into only those popes he favored or those with whom he had an axe to grind. His treatises on the popes of this century are laden with polemics and have no facts, or even persuasive arguments to explain, much less substantiate his rather biased rantings. I'd like to suggest to the author that he do more research of the writing of the early Church fathers regarding the papacy and Petrine succession. If that is too much, take a look at "Jesus, Peter, and the Keys: A Scriptural Handbook on The Papacy," by Butler, Dahlgren, and Hess. If you want a real history of the Church, see Warren Carroll's volumes on the history of Christendom: "The Founding of Christendom", "The Building of Christendom, "The Glory of Christendom," and coming out in October, "The Cleaving of Christendom. For a less detailed treatment of the popes, see the Oxford Dictionary of the Popes.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Historical Information, Enjoyable Reading
Review: This book is excellent historical information that places each pope into the historical context of the secular world. It gives the reader a general sense of each popes accomplishments and try's to infer each popes personality traits based on those accomplishments. I did find it lacking in things more spiritual and humane. The book leaves me wondering what sacrifices did these men make. How much did they truly suffer for their faith. In many cases Popes are made out to look like power hungry spiteful old men whose whole pontificate was spent making life miserable for everyone else. While this might be true of many popes I am convinced we don't get the whole story. Only the more sensational and controversial elements that sell books. It was overall a very enjoyable book. Well worth reading for those interested in Papel history, but take it with a grain of salt and realize that there might be more to the story than meets the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Historical Information
Review: This book is the most important among my vast library of papal history books because McBrien includes many facts about the popes that I have only been able to find in obscure books. He lets us know who is favorite and least favorite popes are, but that helps to give a more personal approach to this topic, which is refreshing in that most informational (particularly historical) books tend to be so dry. This is an excellent sourcebook for those interested in papal history and can easily be read from cover to cover without the reader ever getting bored with the text. McBrien is an excellent writer and this is by far the most well-written, interesting, and informative books on the subject of popes that is readily available.
Rating:
Summary: Apparently facts don't matter
Review: This book is woefully lacking in facts. The author distinguishes himself as someone who doesn't care for the Magesterium of the Church. He makes a point of listing at least one cannonized saint as one of the worst popes in history, possibly because that saint made an effort to insure that theologians were faithful to the magesterium of the Church. The author clearly is not a Catholic, nor is he interested in the facts.
Rating:
Summary: The Game of Rating the Popes
Review: This is a excellent reference. It is difficult to find readable and informed non-fiction material on the popes. (There is a tremendous amount of popular fiction.) Exceptions are Saints and Sinners and Kelly's Dictionary of the Popes. However, one can certainly quesiton the objectivity of McBrien. For example, Benedict XV; Benedict is rated next to John XXIII as the best pope of the century. The man who followed Pius X has always been a somewhat misunderstood figure. The assumption seems to be that because he put an end to the war on the modernists, tried valiantly to end the first world war and comes across as somewhat of an anti-hero, he is tailored to the warm and fuzzy criteria of modern Catholicism. This is the view I myself may have held at one time. Don't get me wrong. I like Benedict very much and would like to know more about him but I question whether he lived up to McBrien's billing. We have been fortunate in our popes during the last century, from Leo XIII who died in 1903 to John Paul II. Today, there is a certain current in Catholic and secular circles that dismisses men of both vision and controversy, particularly Pius XII, John Paul II, and to a certain extent, Pius X. Instead we opt for the ones who seem to fit the politically-correct definitions of our era.
Rating:
Summary: Not a History, but doesn't pretend to be one...
Review: This is a great book if you're curious about the basics of the life of a particular pontiff, or about papal statistics (i.e., shortest reign, longest reign, dates of reigns, etc.). It is not a history, and does not advertise to be one. It is a reference book from which history can be extracted (there are sections on papal history and the book is divided up into sections or epochs). You can literally pull up the name of a pope and get a glimpse of what his rule was like, as well as the highlights and relevant dates for each pope. This book was perfect for me, coming from a non-catholic background. Since it does not read like a book laden with catholicism, I wasn't turned away by the language or structure of the book. Not once did I feel the author was trying to proselytize me (something sadly lacking in some other books about the catholic church). What I found was an honest, objective look at the papacy: there have clearly been good and bad popes (some, though very few, have been downright loathsome people), and there have been popes who were incredible men. This book is honest in its appraisal of the men who held the highest earthly order of the catholic church. There is a slant, and the author hits you in the face with it, but not until the very end of the book. It is not laced throughout the text. Depending upon your perspective, it will either horribly offend you or surprise you with its candor. I personally found it refreshing. In short, if you're curious about the papacy from a historical perspective, this is a good place to start.
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