Awards

• Winner of A Catholic Book Club Selection for May 1996.

Overview

A Catholic Book Club Selection for May 1996 Father John LaFarge, S.J., (1880-1963) was one of the most prominent American Roman Catholic clergymen of his time, who achieved recognition as a major civil rights activist in the years before and after World War II. An Unordinary Man examines the extraordinary career of this civil rights activist and editor of America—from his youth in Rhode Island, through the founding of the Catholic Interracial Council and the writing of his encyclical on racism (at the request of Pope Pius XI in 1938), to his continued presence in the civil rights movement. Based largely on LaFarge's private and professional papers, as well as interviews with relatives and colleagues, this biography offers civil rights and religious historians a new viewpoint on the participation of the Catholic Church in the civil rights movement. Includes a bibliographical essay and a selected bibliography.

Full Product Details

9780810830943

Table of Contents

Reviews

Hecht's wide knowledge of the LaFarge family is put to good advantage in telling this story...a very good read. * Commonweal Magazine * ...provide[s] valuable insights...fascinating reading...careful and well-done work... meticulously researched and interestingly written, providing an excellent mixture of fact and analysis...[Hecht] display[s] a remarkable objectivity while exploring sensitive and controversial issues...separate[s] fact from opinion. The scholarship is outstanding...a valuable contribution to the reaction of the Church and Papacy to racism and anti-Semitism during the Nazi years while pinpointing the personality and policy differences between Pius XI and his successor, Pius XII. * The Catholic Historical Review * ...provides a...holistic account of his complex legacy... * Journal of American History *

Hecht's wide knowledge of the LaFarge family is put to good advantage in telling this story...a very good read. Commonweal ...provide[s] valuable insights...fascinating reading...careful and well-done work... meticulously researched and interestingly written, providing an excellent mixture of fact and analysis...[Hecht] display[s] a remarkable objectivity while exploring sensitive and controversial issues...separate[s] fact from opinion. The scholarship is outstanding...a valuable contribution to the reaction of the Church and Papacy to racism and anti-Semitism during the Nazi years while pinpointing the personality and policy differences between Pius XI and his successor, Pius XII. Catholic Historical Review ...provides a...holistic account of his complex legacy... Journal of American History

Hecht's wide knowledge of the LaFarge family is put to good advantage in telling this story...a very good read. Commonweal ...provide[s] valuable insights...fascinating reading...careful and well-done work... meticulously researched and interestingly written, providing an excellent mixture of fact and analysis...[Hecht] display[s] a remarkable objectivity while exploring sensitive and controversial issues...separate[s] fact from opinion. The scholarship is outstanding...a valuable contribution to the reaction of the Church and Papacy to racism and anti-Semitism during the Nazi years while pinpointing the personality and policy differences between Pius XI and his successor, Pius XII. The Catholic Historical Review ...provides a...holistic account of his complex legacy... Journal Of American History

Author Information

Robert A. Hecht, Ph.D., is Professor of History at Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, N.Y. His publications include Oliver LaFarge and the American Indian: A Biography (Scarecrow, 1991).

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