The Wisdom of the Popes by Thomas J. Craughwell is a kind of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations of the papacy--a collection of statements about various religious and social issues by popes going all the way back to St. Peter. Beginning with theological topics ("Who God Is," "Jesus Christ, True God and True Man," "The Holy Spirit"); Craughwell proceeds to consider papal wisdom regarding worship and ethics ("God rewards nothing but charity, for charity alone honors God," wrote Clement XI in 1713); and finally to papal pronouncements about such controversial matters as slavery, the Holocaust, and communism. Each of the book's 21 chapters is quite short, offering little analysis or historical context for its quotations. Nevertheless, The Wisdom of the Popes is a provocative resource for readers seeking to understand some of the Church's timeless teachings, and the book will surely compel many of those readers to dig more deeply into the questions it raises.
After four years in a doctoral program studying medieval English literature, three years as a copywriter for Book-of-the-Month Club, and one year as a marketing director for a pricey, upscale travel company, I went into business for myself as a full-time writer in 1992. (Yeah. I can't believe the business has stayed afloat this long either).
As a writer, I really don't specialize; my resume is all over the map. I developed the concept and wrote the script for History Book Club's first television commercial. I've written direct mail for Time-Life Books, TV Guide, The Reader's Digest, Hilton Hotels, and the American Banking Association. I wrote the original Barnes & Noble web site; a series of online e-learning business, finance, and banking courses for the New York Institute of Finance; and a special "History of the Paperback" web site to celebrate Quality Paperback Book Club's 25th anniversary. My 50 States Fandex cards (Workman Publishing, 1998) have sold 700,000 copies (!). And I've published articles in a variety of newspapers and magazines--from The Wall Street Journal to Emmy magazine to the national Catholic news weekly Our Sunday Visitor.
My first book, Every Eye Beholds You: A World Treasury of Prayer (Harcourt Brace, 1999), was a Main Selection of both Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club. My book on patron saints, Saints for Every Occasion (Stampley Enterprises, 2001) has been translated into Spanish, Italian, and Polish.
I'm not a professional talking head, but I've been invited to discuss saints, the canonization process, and Catholic history on CNN, EWTN, Ave Maria Radio; and urban legends on the BBC, The Discovery Channel, Inside Edition, and approximately 75 radio stations.
