Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Reference
Review: This is a well researched, scholarly book which serves both as an excellent read and a reference. With individual sections on each Pope, one can readily locate specific information. It is well evident that the author carefully researched multiple sources (as he claims) and has made every effort to present information as objectively as possible. To those, such as myself, looking for a single authoritative reference on the complete history of the Papacy, this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Papal Beauty pageant
Review: This is not a history of the popes. It reads more like the Miss America Pageant. The author has his list of favorites and unfavorties. This pope gets a 9 for niceness, this one a 5 for sanctity, this one a 7 for scholarship. The author's criteria for getting a good grade, of course, are numbingly predictable. They are drawn from the left-liberal wing of the theological establishment. Glaring historical errors, lots of hysterical opinions. Everything but the swimsuit competition.
Rating: 
Summary: The Game of Rating the Popes
Review: This is useful as a sourcebook that provides a quick introduction to any of the popes. It is nothing more than an appendix listing all of the pontiffs and does not really weave any story or analytical history of the institution through its pages.McBrien does provide interesting factoids and the basics on each. It is the kind of book that those interested in the history of the papacy might want to have on hand as a reference. It is not, however, a history of the papacy (which I had been looking for). Those searching for a full discovery of the papacy, how it has changed and the struggles it faced in defnining itself through 2000 years of history will have to look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: One Big Appendix
Review: This is useful as a sourcebook that provides a quick introduction to any of the popes. It is nothing more than an appendix listing all of the pontiffs and does not really weave any story or analytical history of the institution through its pages. McBrien does provide interesting factoids and the basics on each. It is the kind of book that those interested in the history of the papacy might want to have on hand as a reference. It is not, however, a history of the papacy (which I had been looking for). Those searching for a full discovery of the papacy, how it has changed and the struggles it faced in defnining itself through 2000 years of history will have to look elsewhere.
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