This is an interesting, very readable overview of the Civil War. There is a significant focus on the issue of slavery as a plague upon American culture of the time. The author's basic thesis is that, while different people fought for different reasons and the focus was especially blurred when the war began (when there was more emphasis on preservation of the union), the war was essentially fought over the issue of slavery.

Although the author herself is not consistent on this issue in her final volume, a lot can be learned from studying her stories, ideas and conclusions about slavery in light of the current abortion debate. A thoughtful older student might even study this volume thoroughly and compare it with Hakim's significantly-problematic treatment of the 20th century. Hakim makes a significant effort to be fair to the intentions of both North and South while clearly believing that the North has the upper moral hand on the slavery issue.

Although the writing style is quite engaging, all the side bar quotes and information do make a cover-to-cover reading a little choppy. This volume could be used very beneficially as a "spine book" to tie together a study of the Civil War with an emphasis on great stories such as Uncle Tom's Cabin and Killer Angels. Most approriate for grades 6-8 but usable for anyone studying the Civil War. The book can have the effect of kindling an interest in the topic and inviting the student to learn more on their own.

This book is a surprisingly readable and interesting account of "How the Reformation Happened". Although it is written from a Catholic perspective, Mr. Belloc is very fair in dishing out the blame to the appropriate people on both sides. The years covered are 1517 (when Martin Luther affixed his protest against the Indulgences to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany) to 1648, but also includes commentary of the implications of the "Reformation" on our own times. He covers all the major countries involved and is very skilled at explaining the essentials of what happened and the lessons we should take from it. This is the answer for homeschoolers looking for the whole story of what is so often misrepresented in History texts – whether Protestant or Secular. It makes good reading for adults who are teaching younger children or for high schoolers to read on their own. Includes a complete index.

Set in aristocratic England of the late 19th century, this novel by a convert to Catholicism explores the concept of our participation in the Atonement. Young Sir Nevill Fanning is thoughtlessly and unconsciously pagan (though outwardly Catholic) and heir to his dear Aunt Ann's estate. Early on, he falls in love with a Protestant, and this raises various issues both within his aunt and within himself. A Mr. Morpeth represents the holiness and wisdom of the Church as Nevill and Ann work out their salvation.

The novel is at once a profound explanation and touching portrayal of intercessory prayer and atoning suffering, using the unique idiom of the novel, in which the author can create and then unfold an entire cast of characters. Psychological insights and matters of spiritual growth are magnified and clarified in the lens of story. For various reasons, I have recently read a lot of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, and it is all the more interesting to enter into an English countryside world not too far removed from theirs in place or time, but very much removed in theological reach.

It would have been helpful if the publishers had included a table of contents. Several striking passages proved very hard to relocate. There is an extraordinarily sweet and insightful passage about people who see little "signs" in various things. (See Book 2, chapter V, section IV, or, page 261) Even the first passage about initiation, a thoughtful reflection on the difference between those who have come to accept what happens and those who have not, is very hard to find. It's on page 71, and it is clearly the prologue to the interior substance of the story.

Saint Joan of Arc is one of the most astonishing saints of all time. Prayerful, as all saints must be, humble, generous, and patient, Joan served God by leading the armies of France to boot the English from their soil in 1431. Not a usual task for a girl in her late teens, saint or not. And afterwards, to make it perfectly clear that the English were engaged in an act of godless aggression, Joan was burned as a witch after a trial that was unjust, illegal and cruel in every detail.

So who is qualified to tell this story? Another saint? A theologian? A soldier? What about just a good American story-teller – indeed the best – but a man with hardly any faith at all?

Mark Twain is most famous for his Mississippi River stories, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. It is not well enough known that his own favorite of all his works was the life of St. Joan of Arc, told from the fictional perspective (but this is the only fiction in the book) of a childhood companion who accompanied her on her wars, and then smuggled himself into her trials as a court reporter and was the last to touch her hand before she died.

Mark Twain really loved Joan and he dedicated the entire fiber of his wonderful talent to telling her story. I see him in the year 1910, knocking at the Pearly Gates, and I see Peter's hesitation, for Twain was after all, something of an unbelieving old cynic. But over Peter's shoulder, I see a slight and mischievous lass tugging his sleeve and saying with a grin, "Let him in, now, let him in!" while a Voice thunders from the Throne, "Any friend of Joan's is a friend of Mine."

Read it yourself, silently or aloud to the family, and see if you don't agree.