William

This was time well spent, a lot of time. The author has the idea that he is writing a complete history of Christianity. He alludes to the fact that he is a modern British author, and a friend of Christianity, which is code for "I no longer believe in Christ, I am too modern for such a view, but I appreciate the things the Christian culture has brought to the world." One gets the idea that McCullough was writing for his peer group of secular, atheistic British scholars. His has done his home work, and his detailed descriptions of much of the historical processes of the institution of the Church is informative and interesting. However, he makes unsupported assertions throughout the book criticizing the motives or the church which is distracting and often shocking in a book that is supposed to be a clear history of the church. One gets the idea that this is a piece of rebellion against the author's father, who was a priest in the Church of England.

Clearly I did not really understand the way the institutional church split into western, eastern and Russian churches. Often the politics of various leaders of nations worked to co-opt the leaders of the church to get the church to support the secular leaders. Often church leaders were forced to make political decisions for the good of the church as an institution. There were great leaders and weak leaders of the various churches throughout the ages, but the church survived. I also did not understand the development of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. Fascinating reading, but keep in mind the author has a political, secular agenda and watch for his unsupported assertions about the church's leaders and their motives.

This was a good audio book.

Yes, I was inspired to do much more research due to the unsupported assertions concerning the motivations of various church leaders that the author makes. This additional research has been wonderfully confirming of development of the Christian culture in the west and the key role the church has played in creating the civilization of charity we have today.

Listen to the book, but keep your ears open. I bought a copy of the book as a reference and have used it concerning the historical facts that are presented.

Sowell is such a intellect. He takes an issue, breaks it down into its key parts, and then analyses the whole to understand what is the cause and effect of the processes he is examining. Sowell follows the evidence, and the facts, where ever they lead. He is courageous and is not afraid of being attacked by the PC brigades.

The "Protestant Ethic" by Max Weber is looking at society and culture and trying to describe why American culture is the way it is. Sowell also is looking at the world, and trying to understand why we find what we find the culture.

Yes, this could be a one sitting book.

Powerful. Who knew that Hitler made a pact with the Muslim Brotherhood to exterminate the Jews in the middle east to get the support of the Islamic leaders in the region? I certainly did not know this piece of history. Hitler's plans were not fulfilled because the Allies pushed his forces out of North Africa. However, he did use his Mufti to recruit Muslim SS units in the Balkans to track down and exterminate Jews in the region.

God's Battalions is similar, since it provides some of the history behind the current conflict in the mid-East.

This was a good listen.

yes, it was fascinating.

I really had never heard anything like this before. This man analyzed the parts of the political debate and how the left has succeeded in mastering the process. The right has simply showed up to the game and thought since they obviously had the best ideas they would win. The author shows that having the right ideas is not enough since most of the people who vote can not articulate a rational reason for their choice. Something else motivates them to vote, and the author shows us some of the tactics that need to be used.

You could listen to this book in a sitting, I listened to it on the road in my truck.

It was fascinating how Rove described the election process. He really gave us an insight into the process that gets people elected in this country in the modern era.

Everyone called Rove the evil genius that got Bush the bumpkin elected, but Rove shows how he supported the President, and how Bush was always the leader. Rove was a key player, but he humbly shows how he was a part of the team, not the leader who lead the team to success. Leadership was Bush, Rove was an important staff aid to Bush.

Great book, and we should all thank Rove for his candid description of his duties, responsibilities, successes and failures.

No, not possible.

Listen to this book, Cheney's, Bush's,and Rumsfeld's books and you will totally understand the Bush administration.

This is how big decisions are made.

Decision Points by George Bush.

I loved Rumsfeld's description of his time as the Chief of staff in the White House. This is an unobserved position by the public, but it is the most important position in the US Government.

Not possible.

Listen to the book and understand our decisions to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Understand how government actually works. Listen to this book and Cheney's and you will have a clear understanding of the bureaucratic decision making process in the White House.

A genius at work. Listen to this work, but keep a tissue close.

The loss of a beloved and the struggle of a Christian to understand "why life is so hard".

Pain's purpose.

This is not only the best audio book I have ever listened to, it is the best book I have ever read. This is the powerful work of an honest genius. We as a people have been blessed buy the integrity and talent of this man. I wish I could have spent an hour talking to him, but the next best thing is reading this book, or listening to it. After listening to the book I bought a copy, and gave my kids a copy.

How C.S. Lewis reasoned his way to the knowledge that Christ was really who he said he was. How CS came to the faith in Christ at an advanced age rather than as a Child.

This is a good telling of the book.

This book made me take 9 graduate courses in apologetics and read or listen to 150 books and papers on the topic and listen to hundreds of hours of lectures and debates. This is an amazing work.

Christians or non Christians, read/listen to the book, you will be enriched.

Truman was a real person, ambitious, simple, tough, and a product of his time. When he left the Presidency, he and his wife got in their car and drove home to Missouri. No speaking tours for millions of dollars for the man that Nuked Japan and ended the war.

Truman. Tough, intelligent, serious, a man of integrity, but not a perfect man, he did what he had to do to serve the Nation.

I wish God would stop time so David McCullough could write more history.

Clearly, Truman's decision to end the war with Japan by bombing two of her cities with atomic bombs. Tough decision that not many people could make.

What more can be said about C.S. Lewis,and particularly the Screw Tape Letters. This is smart, interesting, compelling, and useful to every individual.

It is important, and humorous at the same time. Genius.

Great reading of the book.

Look out! The Devil is everywhere.

Do not miss this book.

This is not politically correct!

Baldwin, and others like him sold everything of their of their worldly possessions and took their families, recruited an army and marched from France to the Holy Lands to defend the Christians who were being slaughtered by the Saracens as they tried to visit the Holy Lands. These people decided to commit their lives to defending these people and these sites for Christianity. It was a calling and they heard the call. They never intended to survive this Crusade and return to France, they were going to establish a defensive position in the Holy Lands or die trying. This was not a quest for riches, this was a quest to defend the oppressed Christians of the land.

Really, this was a compelling telling of the story.

One group of crusaders did not have enough money to arm themselves and fund their trip to the Holy lands, so they decided to attack the Jewish communities along the way since they decided that the Jews were evil anyway. The Jews were actually defended by Catholic priests in Cathedrals. This is contrary to the typical version of the story known today.

The next time you year someone defending the horrible acts by Islamic barbarians toward Christians or the West as a reaction to the Crusades some 9 centuries ago, listen to this book. It will set the story straight.