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litlineup's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.25
lyonsmw's review against another edition
4.0
At times damning, this thoroughly researched book by David Kertzer offers a compelling look at Pope Pius XII and his action, or lack thereof, in WWII. It’s a powerful read, revealing things one never heard in history class. Kertzer does a very effective job of neither praising nor condemning the Pope for what he did during the war. This is a fascinating read.
marshaskrypuch's review against another edition
5.0
This meticulously researched book by Pulitzer-prize-winning David Kertzer is definitive on Pope Pius XII's controversial relations with Hitler and Mussolini. Making extensive use of newly opened archives, there can now be no doubt about the damning moral choices that the Pope made when it came to appeasing Hitler and closing his eyes to the Holocaust. Apologists might say that he had no choice because communism also posed an existential world threat, plus, it's easy to judge in retrospect. However, one only has to look at his contemporary, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who was the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Sheptytsky not only spoke out publicly against both communism and Nazism, he hid Jews in his own library. Pius XII had the choice, but he took the weak way out.