Synopses & Reviews
One part adventure story, one part archaeological detective work, one part spiritual exploration,
Walking the Biblevividly recounts an inspiring personal odyssey -- by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel -- through the greatest stories ever told.
Feeling a desire to reconnect to the Bible, award-winning author Bruce Feller set out on a perilous, ten-thousand-mile journey, retracing the Five Books of Moses through the desert. Traveling through three continents, five countries, and four war zones, Feller is the first person to complete such a historic expedition. He crosses the Red Sea, climbs Mount Sinai, and interviews bedouin and pilgrims alike, as he attempts to answer the question: Is the Bible just an abstraction or is it a living, breathing entity?
Along with renowned archaeologist Avner Goren, Feller treks through Turkey, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, the Sinai, and Jordan, visiting the actual places of some of history's most storied events, from the mountain where Noah's ark landed to the site of the legendary burning bush. He visits the desert outpost in Turkey where Abraham first heard the words of God and faces arrest while camping on Mount Nebo in Jordan, where Moses overlooked the Promised Land. In each Place, he scrupulously gathers the latest archaeological research and sits down to read the stories in their natural surroundings. With eloquence and insight, he explores how geography affects the larger narrative of the Bible and ultimately realizes how much these places -- and his experience -- have affected his own faith.
Both a pulse-pounding adventure and an uplifting spiritual quest, Bruce Feller's Walking the Bibleis a stunning and elevating work of courage, scholarship, and heart. It revisits the inscrutable desert landscape where the world's great religions were born and uncovers fresh answers to the most profound questions of the human spirit.
Review
“Evocative, descriptive, emotionally honest, and often funny.” Christian Science Monitor
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“A work of magic...[succeeds] in making the Bible exciting.” Angelican Herald
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“This book belongs on the shelves next to the classics.” Publishers Weekly (*starred review)
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“Anyone planning to visit the Middle East should take two books with them--the Bible and this one.” Calgary Herald
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“Feiler, not unlike Mark Twain, brings a sharp sense of humor to the whole endeavor.” Los Angeles Times
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“An enthusiastic travelogue…Feiler delivers a wealth of information in an accessible and entertaining format.” New York Times Book Review
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“[Feiler] is an excellent guide...He has...invested [this book] with a keen intellectual curiosity.” New York Times
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“An instant classic. . . . A pure joy to read.” Washington Post Book World
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“The perfect read for people who are interested in the Bible and the middle East.” Jerusalem Post
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“An exciting, well-told story informed by Feilers boundless intellectual curiosity...[and] sense of adventure.” Miami Herald
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“Bruce Feiler went looking for proof. He learned that proof doesnt matter.” USA Today
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“Feilers accomplishment, and its a profound one, is to confront his idea of God...” San Francisco Chronicle
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“A powerful and spiritual pilgrimage…in every way, marvelous if not indispensable reading for anyone remotely interested in the Torah.” Chicago Sun-Times
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“An eloquently spiritual pilgrimage.” Entertainment Weekly
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“Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.” Los Angeles Times
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“Goren and Feiler make for two of the most entertaining traveling buddies since Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.” San Francisco Jewish Bulletin
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“An inspirational oasis. . . . From the barren land, Feiler emerges, like those whose paths he traces, renewed and transformed.” People
Review
and#160;
Praise for The Oldand#160;Ways
and#8220;A gorgeous book about physical movement and the movement of memoryand#8230;To describe Macfarlane as a philosopher of walking is to undersell the achievement of The Old Ways; his prose feels so firmly grounded, resistant to abstraction.and#160; He wears his polymath intelligence lightly as his mind roams across geology, archeology, fauna, flora, architecture, art, literature and urban design, retrieving small surprises everywhere he walks.and#8221; and#8212;The New York Times Book Review
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#8220;With a steady command of the literature and history of each place he visits, [Macfarlane] tries and#8216;to read landscapes back into being.and#8217; His sentences bristle with the argot of cartographers, geologists, zoologists, and botanists.and#8221; and#8212;The New Yorker
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#8220;A quiet, serious book, purposeful and carefully made, and, as always with Macfarlane, written in a prose at once so thick and rich you want to sink into it bodily and so fresh it threatens to bear you aloft.and#8221; and#8212;slate.com
"Macfarlane seems to know and have read everything, he steadily walks and climbs through places that most of us would shy away from and his every sentence rewrites the landscape in language crunchy and freshly minted and deeply textured. Surely the most accomplished (and erudite) writer on place to have come along in years."and#160;and#8212;Pico Iyer
and#160; and#160;
"Luminous, possessing a seemingly paradoxical combination of the dream-like and the hyper-vigilant, The Old Ways is, as with all of Macfarlane's work, a magnificent read. Each sentence can carry astonishing discovery."and#160;and#8212;Rick Bass
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;In Macfarlane, British travel writing has a formidable new championand#8230; Macfarlane is read above all for the beauty of his prose and his wonderfully innovative and inventive way with languageand#8230;he can write exquisitely about anywhere.and#8221;and#8212;William Dalrymple, The Observer
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;[An] extraordinary bookand#8230;it has made me feel that I myself am always walking some eternal track, sharing its pleasures and hardships with unaccountable others, treading its immemorial footprints, linking me with all the generations of man and beast, and connecting in particular the visionary author of the book, as he unrolls his sleeping bag beneath the stars, with this bemused reviewer beside the fire.and#8221;and#8212;Jan Morris, The Telegraph
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;Every Robert MacFarlane book offers beautiful writing, bold journeys, and an introduction to places and authors you have never heard of before but wish you had always known about.and#160;But The Old Ways is different: somehow larger, more subtle, lingering in the mind and body just a bit stronger.and#160;With its global reach and mysterious Sebaldian structure, this is MacFarlaneand#8217;s most important book yet.and#8221; and#8212;David Rothenberg
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;In this intricate, sensuous, haunted book, each journey is part of other journeys and there are no clear divisions to be madeand#8230;the walking of paths is, to [Macfarlane], an education, and symbolic, too, of the very process by which we learn things:and#160; testing, wandering about a bit, hitting our stride, looking ahead and behind.and#8221; and#8212;Alexandra Harris, The Guardian
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;[Macfarlane] is gripped by a vision of the earth as a network of paths, dating from far back in prehistoryand#8230;from the very first pageand#8230;you know that the most valuable thing about The Old Ways is going to be the writingand#8230;it is like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems.and#8221; and#8212;John Carey, The Sunday Times
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;A book about what we put into landscape, and what it puts into us. If you submit to its spell you finish it in different shape than you set out:and#160; a bit wiser, a bit lonelier, a bit happier, a whole lot better informed.and#8221;and#160;and#8212;Sam Leith, The Spectator
and#160; and#160;
Review
and#160;
Praise for The Oldand#160;Ways
and#8220;A gorgeous book about physical movement and the movement of memoryand#8230;To describe Macfarlane as a philosopher of walking is to undersell the achievement of The Old Ways; his prose feels so firmly grounded, resistant to abstraction.and#160; He wears his polymath intelligence lightly as his mind roams across geology, archeology, fauna, flora, architecture, art, literature and urban design, retrieving small surprises everywhere he walks.and#8221; and#8212;The New York Times Book Review
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#8220;With a steady command of the literature and history of each place he visits, [Macfarlane] tries and#8216;to read landscapes back into being.and#8217; His sentences bristle with the argot of cartographers, geologists, zoologists, and botanists.and#8221; and#8212;The New Yorker
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#8220;A quiet, serious book, purposeful and carefully made, and, as always with Macfarlane, written in a prose at once so thick and rich you want to sink into it bodily and so fresh it threatens to bear you aloft.and#8221; and#8212;slate.com
"Macfarlane seems to know and have read everything, he steadily walks and climbs through places that most of us would shy away from and his every sentence rewrites the landscape in language crunchy and freshly minted and deeply textured. Surely the most accomplished (and erudite) writer on place to have come along in years."and#160;and#8212;Pico Iyer
and#160; and#160;
"Luminous, possessing a seemingly paradoxical combination of the dream-like and the hyper-vigilant, The Old Ways is, as with all of Macfarlane's work, a magnificent read. Each sentence can carry astonishing discovery."and#160;and#8212;Rick Bass
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;In Macfarlane, British travel writing has a formidable new championand#8230; Macfarlane is read above all for the beauty of his prose and his wonderfully innovative and inventive way with languageand#8230;he can write exquisitely about anywhere.and#8221;and#8212;William Dalrymple, The Observer
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;[An] extraordinary bookand#8230;it has made me feel that I myself am always walking some eternal track, sharing its pleasures and hardships with unaccountable others, treading its immemorial footprints, linking me with all the generations of man and beast, and connecting in particular the visionary author of the book, as he unrolls his sleeping bag beneath the stars, with this bemused reviewer beside the fire.and#8221;and#8212;Jan Morris, The Telegraph
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;Every Robert MacFarlane book offers beautiful writing, bold journeys, and an introduction to places and authors you have never heard of before but wish you had always known about.and#160;But The Old Ways is different: somehow larger, more subtle, lingering in the mind and body just a bit stronger.and#160;With its global reach and mysterious Sebaldian structure, this is MacFarlaneand#8217;s most important book yet.and#8221; and#8212;David Rothenberg
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;In this intricate, sensuous, haunted book, each journey is part of other journeys and there are no clear divisions to be madeand#8230;the walking of paths is, to [Macfarlane], an education, and symbolic, too, of the very process by which we learn things:and#160; testing, wandering about a bit, hitting our stride, looking ahead and behind.and#8221; and#8212;Alexandra Harris, The Guardian
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;[Macfarlane] is gripped by a vision of the earth as a network of paths, dating from far back in prehistoryand#8230;from the very first pageand#8230;you know that the most valuable thing about The Old Ways is going to be the writingand#8230;it is like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems.and#8221; and#8212;John Carey, The Sunday Times
and#160; and#160;
and#8220;A book about what we put into landscape, and what it puts into us. If you submit to its spell you finish it in different shape than you set out:and#160; a bit wiser, a bit lonelier, a bit happier, a whole lot better informed.and#8221;and#160;and#8212;Sam Leith, The Spectator
and#160; and#160;
Review
"In his typically compelling style.....Murphy powerfully shows that the impulse to inquisition can quietly take root in any system—civil or religious—that orders our lives." --
Publishers Weekly "Entertaining, lively chronicle of the Inquisition, touching on a wide variety of issues across the centuries." --
Kirkus Reviews "Cullen Murphy's account of the Inquisition is a dark but riveting tale, told with luminous grace. The Inquisition, he shows us, represents more than a historical episode of religious persecution. The drive to root out heresy and sin, once and for all, is emblematic of the modern age and a persisting danger in our time."
--Michael J. Sandel, author of Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
"From Torquemada to Guantanamo and beyond, Cullen Murphy finds the 'inquisorial Impulse' alive, and only too well, in our world. His engaging romp through the secret Vatican archives shows that the distance between the Dark Ages and Modernity is shockingly short. Who knew that reading about torture could be so entertaining?"
--Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side.
"God's Jury is a reminder, and we need to be constantly reminded, that the most dangerous people in the world are the righteous, and when they wield real power, look out. At once global and chillingly intimate in its reach, the Inquisition turns out to have been both more and less awful than we thought. Murphy wears his erudition lightly, writes with quiet wit, and has a delightful way of seeing the past in the present."
--Mark Bowden, author of Guest of the Ayatollah
"When virtue arms itself - beware! Lucid, scholarly, elegantly told, Gods Jury is as gripping as it is important."
--James Carroll, author of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
"There will never be a finer example of erudition, worn lightly and wittily, than this book. As he did in Are We Rome?, Cullen Murphy manages to instruct, surprise, charm, and amuse in his history of ancient matters deftly connected to the present."
--James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic
"The Inquisition is a dark mark in the history of the Catholic Church. But it was not the first inquisition nor the last as Cullen Murphy shows in this far-ranging, informed, and (dare one say?) witty account of its reach down to our own time in worldly affairs more than ecclesiastical ones."
-- Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, former editor, Commonweal
Synopsis
New York Times Bestseller
To tie into the six-part series Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler airing Summer, 2014, a reissue of the classic New York Times bestseller: one part adventure story, one part archaeological detective work, one part spiritual exploration, Walking the Bible is a fascinating, unprecedented journey--by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel--through the most famous stories ever told.
The first person ever to complete the perilous 10,000 mile journey across the inscrutable desert landscape of the Middle East, Bruce Feiler, a fifth generation Southern Jew, embarks upon a quest to reconnect with the stories of the Bible, and uncover fresh answers to profound questions. This inspiring personal odyssey through the most famous stories ever told, is at once a gripping adventure and burning spiritual quest. Accompanied by prominent Israeli archeologist Avner Goren, Feiler travels from Mount Ararat to Mount Nebo, witnessing actual Biblical sites--from the mountain where Noah's Arc landed to the location of the burning bush--and gathers the latest archaeological research to draw some astounding conclusions about these places and his own faith, heritage and humanity's enduring sense of wonder.
Synopsis
"An instant classic. . . . A pure joy to read." --Washington Post Book World
Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible presents one man's epic journey- by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel- through the greatest stories ever told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler's inspiring odyssey will forever change your view of history's most legendary events.
The stories in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah, come alive as Feiler searches across three continents for the stories and heroes shared by Christians and Jews. You'll visit the slopes of Mount Ararat, where Noah's ark landed, trek to the desert outpost where Abraham first heard the words of God, and scale the summit where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Using the latest archeological research, Feiler explores how physical location affects the larger narrative of the Bible and ultimately realizes how much these places, as well as his experience, have affected his faith. A once-in-a-lifetime journey, Walking the Bible offers new insights into the roots of our common faith and uncovers fresh answers to the most profound questions of the human spirit.
"Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating." --Los Angeles Times
"An exciting, well-told story informed by Feiler's boundless intellectual curiosity . . . and] sense of adventure." --Miami Herald
Synopsis
"The process of gathering these images reminded me of the Bible's effortless ability to reinvent itself for each generation and each new way of searching."
—Bruce Feiler
Its stories may be the best known in the world, but its locations have long been a mystery. Where did Noah's ark land? Where did Moses receive the Ten Commandments? Where are the lost cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Now, in Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler offers an unprecedented heart-stirring adventure through the landscape of some of history's most storied events.
Featuring Bruce Feiler's own photography as well as his selections from professional collections, Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey brings together breathtaking vistas, intimate portraits, and fascinating panoramas, providing firsthand access to the inscrutable land where three of the world's great religions were born—and finally puts a face on the stories that have long inspired the human spirit.
Over several years, Feiler traveled nearly ten thousand miles through the deserts of the Middle East, which led first to his runaway national bestseller Walking the Bible. This new illustrated book follows his route, offering a thrilling photographic voyage through the actual places of some of the Bible's most memorable events—from the heights of Mount Ararat, where Noah's ark landed, to the desert outpost in Turkey, where Abraham first heard the words of God, to the summit where Moses overlooked the Promised Land.
Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey chronicles a landscape that nurtured the relationship between humans and the divine, breathing new meaning into stories that have been a timeless source of inspiration.
Synopsis
“The Inquisition is a dark mark in the history of the Catholic Church. But it was not the first inquisition nor the last, as Cullen Murphy shows in this far-ranging, informed, and (dare one say?) witty account of its reach down to our own time, in worldly affairs more than ecclesiastical ones.” — Margaret OBrien Steinfels, former editor,
CommonwealThe Inquisition conducted its last execution in 1826 — the victim was a Spanish schoolmaster convicted of heresy. But as Cullen Murphy shows in this provocative new work, not only did its offices survive into the twentieth century, in the modern world its spirit is more influential than ever.
Gods Jury encompasses the diverse stories of the Knights Templar, Torquemada, Galileo, and Graham Greene. Established by the Catholic Church in 1231, the Inquisition continued in one form or another for almost seven hundred years. Though associated with the persecution of heretics and Jews — and with burning at the stake — its targets were more numerous and its techniques more ambitious. The Inquisition pioneered surveillance and censorship and “scientific” interrogation. As time went on, its methods and mindset spread far beyond the Church to become tools of secular persecution. Traveling from freshly opened Vatican archives to the detention camps of Guantánamo to the filing cabinets of the Third Reich, Murphy traces the Inquisition and its legacy.
With the combination of vivid immediacy and learned analysis that characterized his acclaimed Are We Rome?, Murphy puts a human face on a familiar but little-known piece of our past, and argues that only by understanding the Inquisition can we hope to explain the making of the present.
Synopsis
From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places, an exploration of walking and thinkingIn this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual.
Told in Macfarlaneandrsquo;s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature. His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest, from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kindsandmdash;wanderers, pilgrims, guides, and artists. Above all this is a book about walking as a journey inward and the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move.and#160; Macfarlane discovers that paths offer not just a means of traversing space, but of feeling, knowing, and thinking.
Synopsis
From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places, an exploration of walking and thinkingIn this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual.
Told in Macfarlaneandrsquo;s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature. His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest, from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kindsandmdash;wanderers, pilgrims, guides, and artists. Above all this is a book about walking as a journey inward and the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move.and#160; Macfarlane discovers that paths offer not just a means of traversing space, but of feeling, knowing, and thinking.
Synopsis
Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible describes one man's epic odyssey—by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel—through the greatest stories every told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler's inspiring journey will forever change your view of some of history's most storied events.
Synopsis
A narrative history of the Inquisition, and an examination of the influence it exerted on contemporary society, by the author of ARE WE ROME?
About the Author
Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible, Learning to Bow, Looking for Class, and Under the Big Top. A frequent contributor to NPR's All Things Considered, and contributing editor for Gourmet he writes regularly about American music for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications, and recieved international acclaim for his influential cover story in The New Republic, "Gone Country." A native of Savannah, Georgia, Mr. Feiler is a graduate of Yale and Cambridge Universities, and now divides his time between Nashville and New York.
Table of Contents
1. Standard Operating Procedure • 1
The Paper Trail
2. A Stake in the Ground • 25
The Medieval Inquisition
3. Queen of Torments • 65
The Spanish Inquisition
4. That Satanic Device • 103
The Roman Inquisition
5. The Ends of the Earth • 143
The Global Inquisition
6. War on Error • 183
The Secular Inquisition
7. With God on Our Side • 224
The Inquisition and the Modern World
Notes • 253
Bibliography • 285
Index • 295