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i would like to read these two books by charles couloumbe:

The Pope's Legion: The Multinational Fighting Force that Defended the Vatican

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0230617565/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwchanco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0230617565

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    From Publishers Weekly
    With a makeup and passion reminiscent of the forces that fought the armies of Mordor in Tolkien's Return of the King, the Pontifical Zouaves occupy a little-known chapter in Catholic Church history. Coulombe (Vicars of Christ) tells their story in detail, claiming this is the first time it has been related in such depth in English. The Zouaves, who took their name and style of dress from Algerian tribesmen, came from four continents and at least 17 countries to fight a 10-year war that began with the Sardinian seizure of Romagna in 1860 and Pope Pius IX's decision to resist the emerging Italian nationalist movement. Although the Zouaves' quest ultimately failed, their history is replete with many heroic moments, and their deep spirituality later influenced Catholics in other military units. Coulombe acknowledges that few today treasure the Zouaves' memory because of a general disdain for Catholic militancy, but he is heartened by a recent revival of interest in their story. Military aficionados will enjoy this as much as readers attracted by the Zouaves' connection to Catholic history.


Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806523700/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwchanco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0806523700

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    This unique volume offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives and times of popes past and present, profiling them one by one in all their glorious, inglorious, and vainglorious humanity. Here are papal careers as rich and sensational as the pageantry of the Catholic Church. Here are the popes themselves, goodness hailed, wicked ways revealed. Here is 9th-century Formosus, whose vengeful successor exhumed his rotting corpse and placed it on trial; and John XII, who took a mistress, was killed by her lover, then died in her arms. Here, too, is John Paul II, who raised the popularity of the papacy to matchless heights and helped fell Communism. With penetrating insight, Charles A. Coulombe ponders how personality, ambition, and fate influenced the papacy. What was Callistus really like? How did Hippolytus become the first "anti-Pope"? Why did some of the holiest make bad decisions while some of the most venal led well? Vicars of Christ dares to explore the essential conflict of papal drama: the elevation by Catholicism of imperfect men to a position of spiritual perfection. It is a story for the ages, as inspiring as the annals of Christendom, as intriguing as the saints and sinners who dwell within its pages.

i know the bolded part above will get some chuckles

anybody read them? opinion on if they good?

tx hk!

if it only book i ever read on history of papacy will it be good enough, or would you recommend other title?

Quote from: herbert

tx hk!

if it only book i ever read on history of papacy will it be good enough, or would you recommend other title?

Hmm.... I've read quite a few books about the histories of the Popes, but "Vicars of Christ" is the only one that comes to mind which was written by a Catholic with at least some traditional sensibilities, even if he's not fully trad. Most of the other books were informative, but entirely secular histories; therefore they tend to miss the point about a great many things.

So that said, Vicars is probably the best place to start. If you have a thirst for more knowledge after reading that, you may want to check out "Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes" by Eamon Duffy. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300091656/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwchanco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0300091656

I haven't read it, but Duffy is a first-class historian. I don't know if he's a trad or not, but he definitely "gets" Catholicism of the old world. He has another book called "The Stripping of the Altars", which is hands-down the best book about the Protestant Reformation in England ever written.

Even though his work on the English Reformation and Catholicism is interesting, Duffy is for the most part a liberal, or more aptly put a deconstructionist whose attachments to Catholicism are likely sentimental. For instance, he believes that the papacy was built upon "pious romance" and that the early church was for the most part, not Catholic.