Salonica, located in northern Greece, was long a fascinatingcrossroads metropolis of different religions and ethnicities, whereEgyptian merchants, Spanish Jews, Orthodox Greeks, Sufi dervishes,and Albanian brigands all rubbed shoulders. Tensions sometimesflared, but tolerance largely prevailed until the twentieth centurywhen the Greek army marched in, Muslims were forced out, and theNazis deported and killed the Jews. As the acclaimed historian MarkMazower follows the city’s inhabitants through plague, invasion,famine, and the disastrous twentieth century, he resurrects afascinating and vanished world.
In this meticulously researched, unflinching, and reasonedstudy, National Book Award finalist David I. Kertzer presentsshocking revelations about the role played by the Vatican in thedevelopment of modern anti-Semitism. Working in long-sealed Vaticanarchives, Kertzer unearths startling evidence to undermine theChurch’s argument that it played no direct role in the spread ofmodern anti-Semitism. In doing so, he challenges the Vatican’srecent official statement on the subject, We Remember. Kertzer tells an unsettling story that has stirred up controversyaround the world and sheds a much-needed light on the past.
For 2,000 years, Catholicism—the largest religion in the worldand in the United States—has shaped global history on a scaleunequal ed by any other institution. But until now, Catholicsinterested in their faith have been hard-pressed to find anaccessible, affirmative, and exciting history of the Church. Triumph is that history. Inside, you'll discover thespectacular story of the Church from Biblical times and the earlydays of St. Peter—the first pope—to the twilight years of John PaulII. It is a sweeping drama of Roman legions, great crusades, epicbattles, toppled empires, heroic saints, and enduring faith. And,there are stormy controversies: Dark Age skullduggery, theInquistition, the Renaissance popes, the Reformation, the Church'srefusal to accept sexual liberation and contemporary allegationslike those made in Hitler's Pope and Papal Sin. A brawling, colorful history full of inspiring pageantry andspirited polemic, Triumph will exhilarate, amuse, andinfuriate as it exto
In this book DanielJonah Goldhagen cuts through the historical and moral fog to layout the full extent of the Catholic Church's involvement in theHolocaust, transforming a narrow discussion fixated on Pope PiusXII into the long-overdue investigation of the Church throughoutEurope. He shows that the Church's and the Pope's complicity in thepersecution of the Jews was much deeper than has been understood.The Church's leaders were fully aware of the persecutions and theydid not speak out and urge resistance. Instead, they supported manyaspects of the persecution. Some clergy even took part in the massmurder. But Goldhagen goes further and develops a new, precise wayfor assessing the Church and its clergy's culpability. He thenshows that the Church has, even according to its own doctrine, anunacknowledged duty of repair. He explores this duty, analyzes theChurch's tactics of evasion, and delineates all that the Churchmust do to repair the harm it inflicted on Jews and to healitself.