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It is a very easy to read translation, and is truly a translation, as the scholars who compiled the New American translation did so from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. This is unlike other Catholic translations, which have often worked from the Latin text of the Latin Vulgate. In the foreword, it talks about how the oldest and best-known and supportable texts were used in the writing of this translation, making it one of the best historical translations you can find.
Since it is a Catholic Bible, it contains the deuterocanonical books, which non-Catholic's erroneously call the "Apocrypha" (i.e.: I say erroneous because apocrypha means hidden, and these books are far from hidden).
Each book of the Bible contains the history of that book. Such information included is who was responsible for writing the book (when available), the period in which it was written, and the purpose and intent of the book. Along with this foreward, the each book contains extensive footnotes to assist the reader in understanding particular phrases and/or the historical context. It also contains cross-referencing material which will point the reader in the direction of other related scriptural verses.
As a pointer, this translation can also be found online by visiting the National Conference of Catholic Bishops at the United States Catholic Conference website. You will be able to read the text there and decide if this is a translation you would want to purchase. As a Catholic, I would highly recommend it to all other American Catholics.
However, this one has hands down better notes than any other cheap paperback bible. Every book of the bible has a brief, very scholarly written introduction, and clarifying footnotes on many pages.
What I really respect is that the introductions and footnotes and really, legitimately, scholarly. The moralizing commentary routinely found in some "study bibles" is here reduced to simple notes of clarification on either odd historical points or lines that are hard to translate.
More than enough to recommend this one, even to non-Catholics. Martin Luther might not have particularly liked the extra books, but he did say people should read them.