Catholic Review of: Triumph

This is an incredibly exhaustive account of the Church from its inception through the modern day. As a convert from Protestanism to Catholicism, I was woefully ignorant of much history before about the 16th century. After reading this book, I feel empowered by all of the great men and women who have ushered the faith of Christ along to me today. I now see that it is quite difficult to have a firm understanding of Christianity without delving into its past history and traditions. I thought the title was rather elitist, but what it really says is that despite all of the past tragedies, abuses, and attacks, the Church has still survived, just as Jesus said it would.

The book has a sneaky way of accomplishing something very diificult: presenting history as a narrative, as something engaging and provocative to read. While the book is quite dense, and I wouldn't neccessarily describe it as a 'page-turner', I did find myself beginning a chapter truly interested in what would happen next.

One of the best sections of the book was it's explanations of the causes and effects of the Reformation, specifically those scenes involving Martin Luther and John Calvin. Held up as demigogues by some of their Protestant followers, these men had serious issues and flaws in their thinking that Crocker sought to bring to light.

Overall, this book would be a great primer for anyone seriously interested in Church history, but I reccomend it even more for those who are recent converts and who--like myself--find them ignorant of centuries of Church history.

You can purchase this title in soft cover here.