If you've visited before, you'll note a few changes. Previously we've featured some fiction from Universal Values Media first. This was because the books were newly published (1/1/11) and we thought it might draw some attention to the non-fiction from a new audience — which it has. Having served their purpose, however, it's time to move them a little further down the list, and feature the publications that you expect to find in a Just Third Way bookstore, e.g., Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen, Harold Moulton's The Formation of Capital, and so on.
If you're here for the novels, however, especially those of Robert Hugh Benson — they're still here. Just scroll down past the non-fiction to the fiction department — and don't forget to check out the free .pdfs of classic Just Third Way books like Kelso and Adler's The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) and The New Capitalists (1961), paying special attention to the subtitle of the latter: "A Proposal to Free Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings" (with "past savings," not future savings being understood).
We've also added a few pieces by Mortimer Adler, the "Great Books" philosopher who, with Dr. Max Weismann, founded the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas — whose website you might want to visit. We'll try to feature different works by Dr. Adler rather than list his entire corpus, 1) It is, after all, our bookstore, and 2) A search on Amazon gave us 927 matches for books by "Mortimer J. Adler."
SELECTED CESJ PUBLICATIONS
Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen by Norman G. Kurland, et al.
Modeled on Abraham Lincoln's land-based Homestead Act of 1862, Capital Homesteading would extend the concept to all forms of productive assets, expanding the range of capital that people can acquire from land alone (which is limited) to the virtually limitless technological frontier. Just as a quarter section of land (160 acres) provided a living income for a limited number of people in the 19th century, the financial, monetary, and tax reforms embodied in the proposed Capital Homestead Act of 2012 (the 150th anniversary of the original Homestead Act) would allow every man, woman, and child to accumulate capital assets on a tax-deferred basis on credit without risking savings, and pay for the capital out of the future earnings of the capital itself. The recommended tax reforms would mean that FICA would be merged into the general tax revenues, and a "typical" family of four would pay no taxes of any kind until aggregate income exceeds $100,000. From birth to age 65, a conservative estimate is that an average individual would accumulate nearly $500,000 in dividend-paying capital, generating an estimated income of $45,000 annually to supplement or replace wages and welfare. (ISBN 978-094499700, 256 pp., $18.00.)
This book is also available free in .pdf. (below)
The Formation of Capital by Harold G. Moulton
This classic refutation of Keynesian monetary policy and radical prescription for balanced growth in today's private sector economy was written in 1935 by Dr. Harold G. Moulton, the first president of the Brookings Institution (1916-1952) in response to the unsound approach embodied in the New Deal. Its applicability to the present day is seen by the fact that speculative uses of money and credit, along with massive government and consumer debt, threaten to bankrupt families, companies, and nations alike. The Formation of Capital shows how we can reform the financial system to foster more rapid rates of sustainable growth while reversing our mounting deficits and debt. Moulton's work offers a framework for monetary policy that can spread prosperity, power and freedom to every citizen. Moulton also raises a radical point: Economic progress and growth need not be limited to existing accumulations of savings. Furthermore, his findings prove that the economy grows faster when it is not dependent on past savings, and businesses can employ "future savings" to finance their economic growth. Moulton's work is a keystone of Binary Economics, leading to Kelso and Adler's proposal to finance capital acquisition by everyone without risking existing savings. (ISBN 978-0944997086, 234 pp., $20.00.)
Supporting Life: The Case for a Pro-Life Economic Agenda by Michael D. Greaney
Starting from a pro-life perspective, Supporting Life looks unflinchingly at the moral, constitutional and tactical implications of "choice" and at the economic pressures for abortion. It then offers a principled, commonsense and achievable political strategy and economic solution that would secure for every man, woman and child a new right of citizenship: the equal opportunity to acquire and own capital assets that would provide for that citizen a direct and independent source of income. Supporting Life should be read by all leaders, policymakers and citizens who seek a life-promoting economy that can deliver prosperity, power, freedom and justice for every person and family. (ISBN 978-0944997055, 122 pp., $10.00)
In Defense of Human Dignity by Michael D. Greaney
A compilation of articles previously appearing in Social Justice Review, based on the Four Pillars of an Economically Just Society: 1) A limited economic role for the State, 2) Free and open markets within an understandable and comprehensive legal system as the best means of determining just wages, just prices, and just profits, 3) Restoration of the rights of private property, particularly in corporate equity, and 4) Widespread direct ownership of the means of production. The Just Third Way is a holistic program developed by the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice ("CESJ") in Arlington, Virginia, USA, in response to the growing disparities of wealth and the failure of today's institutions to meet people's wants and needs in a manner consistent with their essential dignity as human beings. Analyzing the applications of natural law as expressed in Catholic social teaching, the articles demonstrate the universality of the principles underpinning the Just Third Way from the perspective of that particular faith tradition. (ISBN 978-0944997024, 320 pp., $20.00)
The Emigrant's Guide by William Cobbett
In the early 19th century the English "radical" William Cobbett made a career of upsetting the established order based on privilege, concentrated ownership of land, and a State-run church. To this day Cobbett's A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland
from 1827 is an indictment of a system in which religious "truths" were determined by the State to support a political and economic elite. In 1829 he published The Emigrant's Guide, urging the "lower" classes to leave England and go to America, the land of opportunity. Considered by G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc as "the Apostle of Distributism," Cobbett's work supports an approach to economic and social development in which every man, woman, and child can become a direct owner of a capital stake sufficient to generate a secure income adequate for common domestic needs. (ISBN 978-0-944-997-01-7, 210 pp., $20.00.) Notes From a Prison: Bangladesh by Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir
Notes from a Prison: Bangladesh is the story of Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, an honest man so courageous he is feared by some of the most powerful forces in his country. In 2002 he was jailed for seven months, tortured and starved by political opponents who, through black money and manipulations, had seized control over the government. From February 2007 to October 2008 Dr. Alamgir was jailed by the military-backed government. Barely surviving, he refused to testify falsely against the previous Prime Minister, was convicted on trumped-up charges, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. This is his story. (ISBN 978-0944997048, 444 pp., $20.00)
FREE PUBLICATIONS FROM CESJ (in .PDF)
Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen by Norman G. Kurland, et al.
Introduction to Social Justice by Rev. William J. Ferree, S.M., Ph.D.
FREE PUBLICATIONS BY LOUIS O. KELSO AND MORTIMER J. ADLER
(FROM THE KELSO INSTITUTE — also in .PDF)
(FROM THE KELSO INSTITUTE — also in .PDF)
The Capitalist Manifesto
This is "the" book credited with starting the modern expanded ownership revolution in 1958. Unlike other proposals that tend to state the obvious fact that widespread direct ownership of the means of production is the right thing to do, Kelso and Adler go into great depth explaining why expanded ownership is not only the right thing to do, but an economic necessity for a free and democratic society. Chapter V especially details the basis in natural law for expanded ownership. The only "problem" with The Capitalist Manifesto is the title: what Kelso and Adler describe is the antithesis of both socialism and capitalism, systems that concentrate ownership and control in a tiny elite and render most people powerless and thus helpless before the inroads of the State. While used copies are often available at premium prices, this edition in .pdf is available at no cost.
The New Capitalists: A Proposal to Free Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings
The most common criticism of the expanded ownership movement is that it sounds great . . . but where is the money to be found? The rich aren't going to redistribute their wealth voluntarily, and State redistribution would violate the very rights of private property the State is supposed to protect. This criticism is only valid, however, if we assume as a given that the only way to finance new capital formation is to cut consumption, accumulate money savings, then invest. This is not, however, the case — as Harold G. Moulton proved in The Formation of Capital (1935). Building on Moulton's work, Kelso and Adler show how "pure credit" (credit extended without reference to existing accumulations of savings) can be used to finance widespread ownership of new capital if (and only if) credit expansion is limited to financially feasible projects to be repaid out of future profits ("future savings") and all such loans are collateralized with capital credit insurance and reinsurance. In this way, humanity can be freed from the slavery of tying economic growth to existing accumulations of savings. Used copies of this book, too, can often be found at collector's prices, but you might want to read this edition for free.
RECOMMENDED FROM OTHER PUBLISHERS
(NOT AVAILABLE FOR BULK PURCHASE)
(NOT AVAILABLE FOR BULK PURCHASE)
Binary Economics: The New Paradigm by Robert H. A. Ashford and Rodney Shakespeare
Binary Economics presents a new paradigm of practical economics combined with a unifying new politics that enables people to understand and realize their essential rights and responsibilities in a market economy. Binary Economics recognizes that capital has a potent productive and distributive relationship to growth. By democratically extending an efficient means to acquire capital to all people using the future earnings of capital on market principles, Binary Economics offers a new approach to current economic problems beyond that provided by conventional economics. The authors present this concept as new hope for solving seemingly intractable problems of economic efficiency, distribution, and justice not solved by conventional economic theories and practices. The binary paradigm allows cooperation with governments to make reforms to existing capital markets so that all people can acquire capital using the earnings of capital and participate democratically and equitably in economic growth. (ISBN 978-0761813217, 448 pp., $46.00.)
The Natural Law: A Study in Legal and Social History and Philosophy, by Heinrich A. Rommen
Originally published in German in 1936, The Natural Law is the first work to clarify the differences between traditional natural law as represented in the writings of Cicero, Aquinas, and Hooker, and the revolutionary doctrines of natural rights espoused by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Beginning with the legacies of Greek and Roman life and thought, Rommen, a student of Father Heinrich Pesch, S.J., the founder of solidarism, traces the natural law tradition to its displacement by legal positivism and concludes with what the author calls 'the reappearance' of natural law thought in more recent times. In seven chapters Rommen explores 'The History of the Idea of Natural Law' and 'The Philosophy and Content of the Natural Law'. In his introduction, Russell Hittinger places Rommen's work in the context of contemporary debate on the relevance of natural law to philosophical inquiry and constitutional interpretation. (ISBN 978-0865971615, 316 pp., $12.00.)
Featured Works by Mortimer Adler
Great Books from the Great Books Philosopher
How to Read a Book
Faced with Dr. Adler's enormous output, how do you select which books to feature first? Fortunately, this question is a "no-brainer" when it comes to Dr. Adler . . . and it's the last time you'll be able to get away without using your brain. As the Borg are supposed to warn their victims, "Resistance is futile." Once you've learned how to read a book (and thus how to think), give up. You're trapped by reason, and will never be able to go back to your old, comfortable — and unthinking — belief patterns again. You might even give up watching Star Trek reruns on television . . . okay, maybe not that, but chances are that you will no longer be captivated by literary pabulum, "experts" who never seem to come up with viable solutions, politicians who sound good but leave you wondering just what, if anything, he or she said — and you may even learn that "Pablum" was a brand name, while "pabulum" is Latin for "infant food" (see? we did spell it correctly!).
Aristotle for Everybody
Decisions, decisions. Selecting which books by Dr. Adler to feature is not the easiest job in the world — although it is certainly more enjoyable than most! Lessee . . . do we feature Trash by the great sex novelist Slimella von Filth, or do we go with Volume XXVIII of the continuing fantasy saga Alien Vampire Dragon Swords Among Us: The Conspiracy Chronicles by Hubert Hacksworth? Why don't we go with Mortimer Adler's Aristotle for Everybody? When you read the intro, you'll see that Dr. Adler at first thought about titling the book, "Aristotle Made Easy" (or, today, "Aristotle for Dummies"?), but decided that, while the philosophy of Aristotle (and thus that of Aquinas, Maimonides, and Ibn Khaldûn) is based on plain common sense, and things start to fall into place once you catch on to the basic principles, it's not really "easy." Still, the special task of humanity being to acquire and develop virtue, learning these things is essential to our full development as persons, so we should probably get busy. This book by Dr. Adler is a good place to start.
Ten Philosophical Mistakes
Some years ago the comedy troupe "Firesign Theater" came out with an album rather provocatively titled, Everything You Know is Wrong — still available as an audio CD
and on VHS tape
if you're stuck in the Stone Age like some of us. We're not sure that Dr. Adler would have gone that far (he did make recordings, some of which are available from the website of the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas, but they are not surreal comedy), but to many people, telling them that some of their most cherished beliefs are inconsistent with reason, and thus with what it means to be human, is a startling revelation. Still, there is more than a glimmering of the realization that something is seriously wrong with the world, or Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors in Modern Thought would certainly not be selling as well as it is — and years after it was first published in 1985.OUR FICTION DEPARTMENT
Featuring the Novels of Robert Hugh Benson
Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) was a member of the noted Benson literary clan. All of his siblings were published authors — you may be familiar with E. F. Benson's "Lucia" novels, or the horror short stories by A. C. Benson. In the early 20th century R. H. Benson enjoyed a celebrated and prolific career of little over a decade, from 1903 to 1914. In addition to many non-fiction works, he authored a series of twenty novels and short story collections. With its clear moral orientation and general adherence to natural moral law principles that underpin the Just Third Way, Benson's fiction enjoyed astonishing popularity among the general public. It is this consistency with the universal moral values that make Benson of value not only to readers who share his Catholic faith, but all believers — and even people with no belief.
Remarkably free of the saccharine often associated with religious-themed and morally oriented novels, Benson's contemporary fiction combines a deceptively light style with pointed, yet oddly gentle satiric barbs. Evelyn Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited and a number of satiric pieces of his own, credited Benson with being an important influence — and, unlike some authors relegated to that category, well worth reading on his own merits.
This "set" of Benson's six contemporary novels are presented in newly formatted and edited editions. In addition to footnotes to explain some possibly unfamiliar terms and concepts, each edition features a new foreword by Benson scholar Michael D. Greaney. For your convenience, we've also listed selected earlier releases from UVM (including famed Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne's only novel!), some of CESJ's recent publications, and a selection of works from other publishers that support the Just Third Way in some degree.
ROBERT HUGH BENSON'S MAINSTREAM NOVELS
A Winnowing
Mixing such seemingly incongruous elements as social satire, near-slapstick, and obsession with death, A Winnowing, first published in 1910, is the first of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels. An undeservedly overlooked work today, the novel flays Edwardian society in terms that bring to mind the comedy of P. G. Wodehouse and the black humor of Evelyn Waugh. The influence of A Winnowing is evident in Waugh's take on the funeral industry in Southern California: The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy
. Benson's novel contrasts the secular dogma that only the material world is of value with the belief that death has meaning. (ISBN 978-1-60210-005-3, 224 pp., $20.00.)None Other Gods
None Other Gods from 1911 may be the author's least appreciated effort. Compared to Benson's more sensational works such as Lord of the World and Come Rack! Come Rope!, this novel reflects gentler, if more profound satire. None Other Gods relates the story of Frank Guiseley, a young man who drops out of college and tries to force God to instruct him personally on what God wants him to do. People of all faiths can appreciate the growing frustration and bafflement Frank experiences until he finally stops trying to make God listen to him, and starts listening to God. None Other Gods takes a look at our tendency to absolve ourselves of responsibility and expectation that some higher authority, be it God or the State, to take over and run our lives for us. (ISBN 978-1-60210-006-0, 312 pp., $20.00
.)The Coward
This third of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, The Coward, first published in 1912, may have been the most shocking to the upper class sensibilities of Benson's day. A young man is faced with challenges and manages to fail at every step. He becomes convinced he is an irredeemable coward — and only then begins to find courage. In a damning indictment of close-minded Edwardian society, a supreme act of courage on the young man's part is mistaken for yet one more craven act. The Coward takes on the soul-destroying tendency to adhere unthinkingly to social conventions. (ISBN 978-1-60210-007-7, 312 pp., $20.00
.)An Average Man
The fourth of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, An Average Man is a far from average production. First published in 1913 and only appearing since in a limited edition in 1945, An Average Man may well be Benson's finest achievement, as well as his most subtle and mature work. It rips to shreds the assumptions on which Edwardian upper class society believed civilization itself was built. Worldly success destroys one "average man," while it presents another, afflicted with seemingly endless and crushing defeats, with the opportunity of practicing virtue of a heroic stature. An Average Man dissects the idea that full participation in the common good is only for an elite, promoting the revolutionary concept that life is for everyone. (ISBN 978-1-60210-008-4, 340 pp., $20.00
.)Initiation
The fifth of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, Initiation from 1914 is a complex work. It is a study of a man's redemption, or initiation into his full humanity, through pain. The novel explores the different types of pain with which people are afflicted — spiritual, psychological, and physical — none of it deserved, yet all of it leading to greater self-awareness and understanding of what it means to be human. Despite the grimness of the theme, the novel is both entertaining and profound. (ISBN 978-1-60210-009-1, 360 pp., $22.00
.)Loneliness?
The sixth and final of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, Loneliness?, published posthumously in 1915, examines the life of a woman who sacrifices everything to be accepted by people who can see her only in terms of her singing ability and the roles she plays on the stage. They abandon her when she can no longer fit into their preconceived ideas. Loneliness? may be Benson's least known, yet one of his most insightful — and entertaining — novels. It highlights the tendency to judge people for what they can do for us, rather than their value as human beings. (ISBN 978-1-60210-010-7, 298 pp., $20.00.
)OTHER "NEW" WORKS BY ROBERT HUGH BENSON
Saint Thomas à Becket, The Holy Blissful Martyr
Unique among the works of Robert Hugh Benson, this short biographical sketch of St. Thomas à Becket, "the Holy Blissful Martyr," from 1908 began as research for a historical novel. Becket's murder at the instigation of Henry II launched the famed pilgrimage to Canterbury and inspired countless works of literature. When his collaborator bowed out of the project, Benson reworked the material into a compelling non-fictional portrait of one of England's most popular and significant historical figures. (ISBN 978-1-60210-001-5, 132 pp., $18.00
.)THE SHORT STORIES
The Light Invisible
Benson's first published work from 1903 is a collection of interconnected short stories often characterized as "supernatural fiction." Out of print for nearly a century, many authorities rate this as "recommended reading." The author's brother, A. C. Benson (an author in his own right), remarked of this book, "The Light Invisible always seemed to me a beautiful book. It was the first book in which he spread his wings, and there is, I think, a fresh and ingenuous beauty about it, as of a delighted adventure among new faculties and powers." The Light Invisible is "specially recommended" in Rev. John Hardon's Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan, one of the few works of fiction featured in that guide. (ISBN 978-0-97298-216-7, 112 pp., $18.00.)
A Mirror of Shalott
Benson's second of his two collections of mystical short stories, A Mirror of Shalott (first published in 1907) is probably better classified as "horror," though not the splatter-and-thrill variety to which Hollywood has accustomed us. We suspect that this book may have inspired Taylor Caldwell's underrated collection of interrelated short stories, Grandmother and the Priests
. The republication of the extremely rare A Mirror of Shalott presents to a new public a work that until now was thought by some authorities to be apocryphal. (ISBN 978-0-97298-218-3, 164 pp., $18.00.)THE HISTORICAL SAGAS
By What Authority?
This is Benson's first published historical novel, covering the long years of the reign of Elizabeth I. He conceived this project to present in fictional form the story of the English Reformation from an alternate point of view. This he achieved without the use of the stereotypes that characterized virtually all such productions in his day to the detriment of both sides (Catholic and Protestant) of the question. Unlike other editions of this work that are often abridged, this contains the full text of the 1904 first edition. (ISBN 978-0-97298-211-5, 556 pp., $24.00.)
The King's Achievement
This 1905 novel portrays the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII from the point of view of an ordinary English middle class family. While chronologically taking place before the events in By What Authority?, this book was written later, filling in the histories of many of the characters appearing in the earlier novel. Benson's own achievement was thus the invention of the "family saga" quite a few decades before this genre became popular. (ISBN 978-0-97298-212-4, 416 pp., $22.00.)
The Queen's Tragedy
The story of Queen Mary, elder daughter of Henry VIII Tudor, is related here with much sympathy for the woman (as opposed to the excoriated ruler), but without whitewash. Next to the much-reworked Oddsfish!, this novel that came out in 1906 may have been Benson's most difficult book to write, faced as he was with centuries of prejudice and stereotypes. Benson's biographer, the Rev. C. C. Martindale, hinted that Benson's hardest task was in presenting the unattractive human being behind the unpleasant myth. In common with many of Benson's works, the reader has to decide for himself the meaning of the title. Of what does the "tragedy" of the title consist? Was it misplaced religious zeal? The failure to restore Catholicism to England permanently? The inability to provide an heir for the stillborn Anglo-Spanish Empire? A difficult question — and a complex book. (ISBN 978-0972982139, 296 pp., $20.00)
THE "SENSATIONAL" NOVELS
Lord of the World
One of two science fiction titles Benson wrote, this is his most popular — and least understood — novel. Today's fans of this novel, unfamiliar with late Victorian science fiction, often mistake it for prophetic literature and completely miss its crushing satire of Edwardian society. Benson took a popular sub-genre of science fiction at the time, the "future war novel," and incorporated all the usual gimmicks: the coming war of 1914, flying machines, super-powerful explosives, the growth of totalitarianism — all of which happened to come true in one form or another. Lord of the World is a bitingly satiric science fiction novel of a secularized World State. Lord of the World is the only one of Benson's novels to remain continually in print from its first publication in 1907 down to the present day. Bishop Fulton Sheen characterized Lord of the World as one of "three great apocalyptic pieces of literature dealing with the advent of the satanic." Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger before his election to the papacy, made positive references to the novel in some of his talks. Lord of the World may have inspired Evelyn Waugh's darkly humorous novella, Love Among the Ruins. (ISBN 978-0972982146, 296 pp., $20.00.)
The Dawn of All
The second of Benson's two science fiction satires, The Dawn of All is a "counter-blast" to the terrifying Lord of the World. Contradicting the notion that this novel presents a blueprint for an ideal society, C.C. Martindale, S.J. commented that "Benson wrote often and emphatically that he did not for a moment expect the pictured solution to realize itself, and that he even hoped it would not. Neither Science, nor the State, nor Religion would ever, he was convinced, find themselves in such mutual relations as he had invented." While Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward and other socialist utopian visions (including Louis-Sebastien Mercier's Memoir of the Year 2440 from 1770) may have inspired Benson to some degree, he gave a unique twist to the device of a man "unstuck" in time. This 1911 novel probably inspired Evelyn Waugh's short story, "Out of Depth," which in turn seems to have had significant influence on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Slaughterhouse Five
. (ISBN 978-0972982153, 268 pp., $20.00.)The Sentimentalists
This extraordinarily well-written novel examines the case of an egomaniac badly in need of a "reality check." Benson even titled an early draft of this 1906 work The Egomaniac, but chose instead a much more interesting and inviting title. This is Benson's only novel to have an "official" sequel, The Conventionalists, which was, incidentally, another early title for The Sentimentalists. Based on an actual person and events, The Sentimentalists provoked a great deal of controversy — from everyone except the individual on whom it was based, who loved the book! Despite Benson's own misgivings about the "sensational" nature of this novel, it deserves to be ranked among modern classics of English literature. (ISBN 978-0-97298-217-5, 252 pp., $20.00.)
The Necromancers
Some few of Benson's novels have remained in print sporadically. The Necromancers from 1909 is one of them — and, apparently, for all the wrong reasons. Ostensibly a warning against the dangers of "Spiritism," The Necromancers is actually an insightful psychological study of the effects of grief — and the problems that result from not dealing with it in a human manner. This novel should be considered a "horror classic," but not in the usual vein. 248 pages. (ISBN 978-0-97298-219-1, 248 pp., $20.00.)
OTHER UVM OFFERINGS
Hugh: Memoirs of a Brother, by Arthur C. Benson
Arthur C. Benson's touching tribute to his brother, Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914), the noted author and preacher, whose conversion from the Anglican communion to Catholicism in 1903 startled Edwardian England. Arthur's 1916 sketch of his brother, fondly known as "Hugh," in general avoids discussing religious issues, however, and paints a glowing portrait of a beloved brother, focusing on Father Benson's character, temperament, and personality, leaving discussion of his more "sensational" fiction to fans and critics. This book is invaluable for gaining insights to an author popular with both Catholic and Protestants. Hugh gives an insightful portrait of the man, rather than an analysis of a writer's work. (ISBN 978-1-60210-000-8, 160 pp., $18.00.)
The Four Winners: The Head, The Hands, The Foot, The Ball, by Knute Rockne
From 1925, The Four Winners is Knute Rockne's only novel. It embodies his philosophy of the role of sports and moral values in building character — a "young adult" novel at least three touchdowns ahead of the competition. As Knute Rockne III stated, "The Four Winners was written by my grandfather for the expansion of the game of football, but most of all to show that it is a game of intelligence and not just pure muscle. I strongly recommend this book for anyone desiring an understanding of the game of football as played in the 1920s." Dr. Charles Rice, Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Notre Dame is even more explicit: "This enjoyable little book, by a great teacher of youth, evokes a positive and clean morality that is not a curiosity of the past but our hope for the future." (ISBN 978-0-97298-210-8, 184 pp., $18.00.)
Also, feel free to submit your short reviews of any of these books for our comments section (below). They will appear after being edited. If you want to post unedited or longer reviews, go straight to Amazon, or post your review in both places — these books will come up closer to the head of a search if people review and rate them (favorably, of course), as Amazon features editions that people are buying and showing an interest in, as is reasonable.
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