Rating: 
Summary: Great Gift
Review: A visiting friend left this book for us as a gift, and what a blessed gift. I promptly bought 5 copies to give away myself.
We have this very human need to hear stories of people. We can slake it with celebrities ~ or with saints. This is a book of heros and heroines spanning the centuries, with a decidedly Catholic bent. It's readable and it's fresh. I don't always agree but I am always challenged. There is a saint for each day; my husband and I have taken to discussing this saint of the day. Christopher Lasch wrote: "In a narcissistic, self-pleasing
culture, we welcome celebrities, because we lack imagination and courage.Traditional heroes make demands on us, but celebrities make no moral claim on us. Glittering stars in our culture merely feed our narcissism, our love of self, our addiction to what society finds pleasurable. But heroes stretch our imaginations, and stand as imperatives, calling, demanding we
live a higher, holier life."
This book helps us hear the call of the saints.It's a wonderful antidote to celebrities and at the top of my list for gifts.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Mix of Exceptional People
Review: ALL SAINTS is similar in style to well known collection of saints biographies such as BUTLER'S LIVES OF THE SAINTS. His book, like Butler's, designates a saint for each day and has a biography that follows, but set up is where the similarity ends. The people in Ellsberg's collection of short biographies are not all canonized saints. While he includes many familiar saints such as Mary the Mother of God, St. Anthony of Egypt, St. Agnes, St. Patrick, St. Monica, and St. Augustine, he also includes non canonized people such as Dorothy Day, Dom Helder Camera, and Thomas Merton. Some of the people included are from religious traditions other than Christianity. Ellsberg includes them because their exceptional lives teach us virtue. Each biography gives the reader something to think about and can be a tool for both teaching and prayer.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful, inclusive "cloud of witnesses"
Review: All Saints is truly remarkable. While there are many traditional collections honoring Catholic saints, this is the first I have seen that is truly catholic (universal) in embracing many different traditions and the best of those traditions. Ellsburg's book reminds me that saints are made, not born. Each day I am presented with the story of some man or woman who struggled to grow in relationship with God and to live well in the world around him/her. Many advocates of social justice and modern "saints" (as modern as the 90s) are included here, which is wonderful to see. I have ordered many copies for family and friends! No one who knows the value of role models should be without one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: An inspiring, thoughtful book I enjoy reading everyday. I highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: An unorthodox approach
Review: Disclaimer: Many, if not most, of the people that appear in this book are not canonized saints. They are laity -- even many non-Catholics -- who the author considers holy. Perhaps if this was the exception, rather than the rule, in this book, I'd be happier.
I didn't know that before buying the book. I wish I did. The entire book is a politically correct treatment of the lives of the saints. It's distracting. I bought the book to deepen my spiritual and prayer life; I am simply uninterested in the author's revisionist view of history and theology.
You can't get past the introduction without sensing the author's suspicion of the institutional Church. He subtly criticizes the canonization process: when the Church requires miracles, he says, the saints gain almost a divine-like, impossible-to-reach status in pop culture. The author also says that our current canon of saints recognizes mostly only "conventional forms of piety". He tells us that he hopes "to expand the popular understanding of holiness itself".
At one point, the author apologizes -- yes, apologizes -- for "the prevalence of sexist ... noninclusive language" in the writings of the saints. "The feminist challenge," he explains, "is surely one of the great signs of the Spirit in our age."
He emphasizes the need for more saints who (1) pressed for justice, not just charity, (2) were women, (3) were lay people, (4) were non-Western, etc.
This book would be more aptly titled, "All Role Models". I am puzzled by the inclusion of, for example, Vincent van Gogh, Galileo Galilei, Henry David Thoreau, John Wesley (the founder of the Methodist Church) and Albert Camus (a "non-religious" existentialist).
Anyway, you get the point. If this sort of silliness is your cup of tea, be my guest and buy the book. As for me, I'm going to check out Bert Ghezzi's "Voices of the Saints".
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: Does this book have a slight agenda well yes--it tends toward honoring works-rightiousness which will perhaps make orthodox Catholics and Lutherans taken aback a bit. But most of the people listed are truly holy (Mozart? well ok). There are two significant omissions: Martin Luther--whose profound thought has never been examined by Catholics, and Thomas Ken a humble man who sufferred prison and was uncanonically deprived of his Anglican Bishopric for supporting a Catholic King.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: Does this book have a slight agenda well yes--it tends toward honoring works-rightiousness which will perhaps make orthodox Catholics and Lutherans taken aback a bit. But most of the people listed are truly holy (Mozart? well ok). There are two significant omissions: Martin Luther--whose profound thought has never been examined by Catholics, and Thomas Ken a humble man who sufferred prison and was uncanonically deprived of his Anglican Bishopric for supporting a Catholic King.
Rating:
Summary: A well-written and cogent daily reader generous in 'saints'
Review: Ellsberg chronicles not only expected Saints, but also Old Testament figures, writers like John Donne and George Herbert, social activists like Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Dorothy L. Day, G.K. Chesterton, and the anti-Nazi Order of White Rose. Gandhi and Moses rub page-shoulders with Julian of Norwich, Sojourner Truth, and the Beguine martyrs. Well-documented readings feature a prefatory quote by the day's saint, a biography, and a reflective linking to other 'saints' of the day and subsequently. Have given two copies away already and am on-line to order more; like any good book, -All Saints- by Robert Ellsberg improves with every reading.
Rating:
Summary: An exciting collection for the contemporary reader!
Review: Ellsberg has not only made wise choices, he has presented his saints, witnesses and modern day prophets in a concise readable format. We gather insights from the lives of contemporary greats such as Karl Rahner and Karl Barth, and spirituality from Chief Seattle whose wisdom has much to teach us (as do all the highlighted lives). Ellsberg gives us glimpses of holiness in people like Flannery O'Connor who commented, "There won't be any biographies of me because... life spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy." Each story begins with a quotation for those of us who appreciate a quote a day along with a short biographical sketch and ends with a reference at the bottom of each section. Ellsberg has truly compiled a "communion of saints" from all traditions that may very well be his contribution to a continuing ecumenical dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: All Saints Galaxy
Review: I give this book the highest rating. My faith sharing group has been using it for reflection this year. Some of our members had been reluctant to use a book about saints having read many about traditional Catholic saints. We have found this book to be very useful for reflecting on heroes and holiness. There is a broad spectrum of them, few of them perfect in the traditional sense. It encourages me to think of the path to holiness as a journey that is seldom fully attained in this life, but with many shining examples of heroes, witnesses, prophets and saints.
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