In 1851 Bishop Latour and his friend Father Valliant are despatched to New Mexico to reawaken its slumbering Catholicism. Moving along the endless prairies, Latour spreads his faith the only way he knows—gently, although he must contend with the unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Over nearly 40 years, they leave converts and enemies, crosses, and occasionally ecstasy in their wake. But it takes a death for them to make their mark on the landscape forever.
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Quite simply a masterpiece ... I am completely bowled over by it ... This will be a book which I go on rereading' A. N. Wilson, TELEGRAPH *A powerful piece of writing, rich with the essence of a poor, yet beautiful country and a simple yet dignified 'A powerful piece of writing, rich with the essence of a poor but beautiful country and a simple yet dignified people' Sunday Times 'Quite simply a masterpiece ... I am completely bowled over by it; by the power of its writing, by the vividness of its secne painting and by the stories it tells ... This will be a book which I go on rereading' A. N. Wilson, Telegraph 'A tremendous, ranging story, economical and distilled as poetry ... A lovely book' Jane Gardam
About the Author
Willa Cather (1873-1947) was born in Virginia where for generations her ancestors farmed land. She became a teacher and journalist and is one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 82 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
To be honest, the title was not one that I would have picked up on my own, and the book was recommended to me several times before I decided to read it. (You can't tell a book by it's Title) Worthy of all of its critical acclaim, I have read this novel over several times, not only for it's splendid story line, but for the sheer brilliance of it, each time marveling at it's beauty and style. Though it deals with religion, it does it tastefully, openly, and allows the reader to see the underside of the human element that powers it.
Though all men may be "created equal", their characters are not, and this story is powerful in that regard as it exposes men of the cloth that are there simply as users of others, as opposed to the devoted, the sincere whose life work has been striven to the good.
The novel is timeless. The story unfolds in France and Italy, is about two boyhood friends who study for the priesthood together and subsequently end up doing their life's work together in the wild, open country of the New Mexico and Arizona frontiers. This work spans their entire lives, and the adventures, trials and hardships are many. The artistry that Willa Cather employs as she takes her reader through the magnificent, lonely expanses of sage and cactus, to the Mexican people in remote areas; the lawless exiles who hope to disappear into it's wilderness, is all accomplished as though a painter is at work beside her, shaping her words into visuals, making this work one of her best, in my view.
Though all men may be "created equal", their characters are not, and this story is powerful in that regard as it exposes men of the cloth that are there simply as users of others, as opposed to the devoted, the sincere whose life work has been striven to the good.
The novel is timeless. The story unfolds in France and Italy, is about two boyhood friends who study for the priesthood together and subsequently end up doing their life's work together in the wild, open country of the New Mexico and Arizona frontiers. This work spans their entire lives, and the adventures, trials and hardships are many. The artistry that Willa Cather employs as she takes her reader through the magnificent, lonely expanses of sage and cactus, to the Mexican people in remote areas; the lawless exiles who hope to disappear into it's wilderness, is all accomplished as though a painter is at work beside her, shaping her words into visuals, making this work one of her best, in my view.
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is on the short list of great novels published in this country, and is arguably Cather's masterpiece. Based on the historic Bishop Lamy of 19th century Santa Fe, Cather's Bishop Latour is called to civilize a land with a complex and tangled history. Cather presents him as a hero cowboy on horseback, facing off against various challenges natural and human from the day he is dispatched from Rome until his death years later.
The prose is stately, but rich and colored -- modern English clear, direct, and chiseled. Each chapter is a self-contained episode, directly modeled on Giotto's Life of Saint Francis panel circa 1300, wherein roughly a dozen separate pictures depict famous episodes of the saint's life. Cather rigorously studied classical art, music, and architecture, and was as artistically conscious as other pioneer artists of her generation -- Frank Lloyd Wright in architecture, Stieglitz in photography. Coming dead center between Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway, and sharing a preoccupation with both of them for the American West, this book richly resonates as an ever-fresh, peculiarly American piece of classic writing.
The prose is stately, but rich and colored -- modern English clear, direct, and chiseled. Each chapter is a self-contained episode, directly modeled on Giotto's Life of Saint Francis panel circa 1300, wherein roughly a dozen separate pictures depict famous episodes of the saint's life. Cather rigorously studied classical art, music, and architecture, and was as artistically conscious as other pioneer artists of her generation -- Frank Lloyd Wright in architecture, Stieglitz in photography. Coming dead center between Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway, and sharing a preoccupation with both of them for the American West, this book richly resonates as an ever-fresh, peculiarly American piece of classic writing.
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Cather, who is famous for the lyrical quality of her sensitive writing, does not disappoint in this spectacular novel. She creates a rich and sensitive tapestry of human experience, spinning a yarn of struggle, revelation, love, cruelty, adaptation, and ultimate triumph. She never yields to the temptations of fatuous romanticism or trite platitudes. This book is an experience that transports the reader into another time in another place, but then provides the most insightful among us with the material needed to extrapolate from this experience, and apply it to other places in other times. This is a uniquely American masterpiece that will resonate with those who may have grown out of spy thrillers and whodunits.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring glimpse into the settlement of New Mexico
I loved this book. Maybe I loved it because I had recently been to New Mexico (for the first time), had visited the great museum in Santa Fe, and could picture everything and it... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Carrie Cupcake Plum
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read for Santa Fe visitors.
This book is a great read for historybased fiction of the SW and especially Santa Fe. I loved reading it because it gave life to the buildings and area around Santa Fe.
Published 2 months ago by Pamela L. Boedeker
4.0 out of 5 stars
History of New Mexico and AZ
Willa Cather is the best at describing the landscape. Sometimes the sentence was so very poetic I re read it several times. The states were not just cowboys and Indians. Read more
Published 4 months ago by 62735
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful
Not much to say about this novel. Simply one of the most beautiful little books I've ever read. Reverent, deep, beautifully written.
Published 5 months ago by David
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime
A tale of the Catholic church in the US circa early 1900's. Wonderful writing as the tale follows two men through the Southwest; this is an easy book to read, but has great depth. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Diana L. Braun
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful tale of success and life and loss
I had been meaning to read this for some time, seeing as how it's set in New Mexico, and the southwest in general. And finally I got to it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Matt Beatty
4.0 out of 5 stars
one to savour
Beautifully written account of two French missionaries sent out to 1850s New Mexico. Based on actual priests, we follow Bishop Latour and his friend Father Vaillant as they enter a... Read more
Published 11 months ago by sally tarbox
5.0 out of 5 stars
one of Cather's finest
I have not read a novel this powerful in a long while.
Death Comes for the Archbishop is sensuous and moving, full of historical detail yet concerned with philosophical... Read more
Death Comes for the Archbishop is sensuous and moving, full of historical detail yet concerned with philosophical... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Rebecca Burke
4.0 out of 5 stars
Faith and Friendship
2 French priests were sent to American Southwest in 1850's establishing and cultivating Catholic dioceses, their endeavors, tribulation, exposition of the people and the land,... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Daniel
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was expecting
I do love Cather's style of writing, casual and very descriptive, but I was not very fond of this book. Read more
Published 15 months ago by niklovely
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
