Footfall

Book Description

"NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN NIVEN AND POURNELLE.

I LOVED IT!"
--Tom Clancy

They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star.

The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.

Now the conquerors are descending on the American heartland, demanding servile surrender--or death for all humans.

"ROUSING . . . THE BEST OF THE GENRE."
--The New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews:

It's okay, but............2007-03-29

Footfall is an ambitious novel that succeeds in some areas but falls flat in as many others. There are probably 7 or 8 character threads, and 3 of them are interesting. By halfway through the book you learn which characters are worth reading about and which you can safely skim over. There's nothing wrong with the story, but I kept finding myself putting it down and picking up something else to read.
One conceit of Niven and Pournelle I found amusing was the importance of Science Fiction writers. Something's gone wrong? Ask the sci fi writers. President needs advice? Ask the sci fi writers. It doesn't hurt the story, but it did make me smile at the prominence of writers as portrayed in the book.

airport reading..maybe.........2007-02-22

Well, I have to agree with many of the critiques about the use (or misuse) of the cast of characters. Overall I really wasnt very impressed. One amusing bit is that the book is also a not so subtle anti-liberal screed. Characters mutter about the liberals every 50 pages or so and then of the two characters described as liberal: One ends badly (cowardice apparently) and the last we see of the other he's lamenting his opposition to industry and nuclear power as that might have saved everyone from the aliens (midway through, not giving anything away here).

I was curious about the right-wing slant so I did some googling and found that Jerry Pournelle is apparently well known for this kind of material. Liberals and eco-terrorists figure prominently as villains in his work. Its just an amusing, if slightly nutty, undercurrent. My real problems with the book were the jumble of characters and the somewhat abrupt ending.

Great fun.......2007-02-15

If your sf taste runs to alien invasion -- and, really, whose doesn't -- this is a great weekend. Well-conceived aliens, well-conceived conflict, lots of imagination. It drags in spots, but that's the price you pay for a big novel with lots to entertain you.

Footfall.......2007-01-28

Larry Niven is one of my favorite Authors. This is a very riveting book. Hard to put down. I believe if we had malignant aliens land here in such a way, We would do as much the same as the heros in this book.

Sequel.......2006-11-27

I absolutely loved this novel. The creation of an alien culture based on the herd psychology and biology was good. The insight displayed concerning the human drive to not just survive but overcome and prosper was exhilerating. The end of the book was however, abrupt and unsatisfying.

At the least, a good epilogue describing the further interactions of the humans and aliens would have been cool.

On the other hand, Larry and Jerry are the artists, and they can do it any way they want!

Paul

Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett: All That Fall, Act Without Words, Krapp's Last Tape, Cascando, Eh Joe, Footfall, Rockaby and others

Average customer rating:

Absurd and nothing else.
Almost too much Beckett from such a small book!
Blinded by the darkness
Extraordinary, but to be taken in doses.
Succintly Brilliant

Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett: All That Fall, Act Without Words, Krapp's Last Tape, Cascando, Eh Joe, Footfall, Rockaby and others
Samuel Beckett
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0802150551

Customer Reviews:

Absurd and nothing else. .......2006-07-05

I have long heard the name of Samuel Beckett, along with Yeats, Bernard Shaw and Heaney as the 4 most distinguished writers of Ireland. But Beckett's plays in this book are a total disappointment!
For shoppers who are reading this review, you may disagree with my rating of this book, but you have to agree that the plays in this book can (might) only be appreciated through watching them being acted out, and not just by reading the scripts.
I don't understand the plays in this book at all, except for the very first one - All That Fall.
For those who like Eugene O'Neill and such, and not absurdity, please do not try this book.
This is definitely not worth US$15.95!
Maybe just US$1.95, for All That Fall.

Almost too much Beckett from such a small book!.......2006-03-19

The perfect collection of Samuel Beckett's shorter works. A resource that no home library should be without.

Blinded by the darkness.......2005-10-01

It is in these short 'dramaticules' that Samuel Beckett's dark and chilling genius is at it's most intense. Beckett's plays are his most vivid depiction of the futility of human communication, and the undeniable solitude of the individual as a result.

Old age and the fruitless reminiscing that this stage of life brings, preoccupies Beckett in many of these short pieces. In 'Ohio Inpromptu' an aged character's memories are constantly stopped from wandering into nostalgia by the periodic knocking of his mirror image who sits opposite him. This struggle for or against nostalgia for the past is one that faces many of Beckett's characters. In 'Rockaby' and 'Footfalls' we see old women who have battled against life for long enough and are simply awaiting their death. They feel no longing for the past and feel no passion for a life that has failed them. In 'Krapp's Last Tape', Beckett's main character has the difficulty of simultaneously battling with his former and current self. The result is a display of disdain for the optimism and exuberance that characterises more youthful thought.

The aforementioned plays, as well as notable others such as 'The Old Tune' and 'All That Fall' fantastically exemplify Beckett's premise that we are all stuck on the pointless treadmill of life and that only death can pull us off it.

Extraordinary, but to be taken in doses........2001-02-08

Some advice: although this book contains some of the most astonishing plays ever written, I wouldn't read them all in one go. If you do, doubts might seem to creep in. About how Beckett doesn't really have all that much to say, and became increasingly mannered in his attempts to say it. That his work is really just three variations on basic forms - the Godotesque double act; the old man or woman looking back over a (generally stunted) life; and the pattern plays/mimes. You'll certainly want to rush and read something silly just for a breath of air; there's not much of the vaunted Beckett humour here.

Nevertheless, the collection brims with Beckett's best work - the remorselessly inventive radio play, 'All That Fall'; the sublimely tragic comedy, 'Krapp's Last Tape'; the infernal farce, 'Play'; the deconstruction of nostalgia, 'That Time'; the chamber poignancy of 'Ohio Impromptu'; the great theatrical experiments, 'Footfalls', 'What Where', 'Not I', 'Rockaby', which pushed the language of theatre way past its limits, undermining its boasts of 'live performance' and the functionality of language - in these texts, 'meaning', if there is such a thing, may reside in the stage directions.

Succintly Brilliant.......2000-06-03

Beckett's shorter may shock a new reader to Beckett's works. If you are looking for something that tells an interesting story, you will not enjoy his plays. I can understand why previous reviewers feel that that there is not content in his plays. But the intention of much of his works is to provide meaning through the emptiness. Beckett is a truly great minimalist writer: some of the plays in this volume lack even speech, relying soley on stage directions. The empty, cyclic nature of human life is central to his world view. Beckett makes his readers linger on questions long after they finish reading. His writing is marked by brevity, but is nevertheless succinct.

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The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Footfalls of Indian history
Nivedita
Manufacturer: Longmans, Green
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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A quiet splendour, soul-enriching
Books to have on a desert island...
Simple but powerful.

Footfalls in Memory
Terry Waite
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Taken on Trust: An Autobiography

ASIN: 0385488629
Release Date: 1997-09-15

Book Description

For the first year of Terry Waite's solitary confinement in Beirut he was given nothing to read. During those days not only did he write his autobiography in his head, but he also attempted to remember the books, poems and prayers he had read during his life.

Eventually his guards mellowed and he was given books. He received a wide variety ranging from Herodotus to novels.

Now, Terry Waite has collected together selections from the books he remembered, the books he received and the books he wished he had been given. This selection provokes memories of childhood, travels and captivity as he vividly recalls personal stories and anecdotes and as he takes the reader down the corridors of his memory.

Footfalls in Memory, through the works of Solzhenitsyn, T.S. Eliot, William Styron, John Bunyan, Dostoevsky, Irina Ratushinskaya and many others, plus extracts from the Bible, and the Book of Common Prayer, gives another fascinating insight into a life illuminated by literature of all kinds.

Customer Reviews:

A quiet splendour, soul-enriching.......2002-01-19

What a marvellous selection Terry Waite has made of his favourite writing! Poetry and prose, comic and tragic, detective-novel and devotional literature, are here placed side by side, each selection placed in context by a short introduction by Waite (how he came to encounter the book, why the writing means so much to him). It is an ode to the joys of reading, a paean in praise of the written word, and a book to own. A book, moreover, that leads us to other books!

The books are of three kinds: (1) books given to Waite by his captors in Beirut; (2) books Waite remembered from earlier years, & that he wished he had on hand in his cell; (3) books he discovered after his release. Sometimes the categories overlap. Waite once drew a penguin for one of his guards, who was buying English books second-hand, and the guard came back with a Penguin Books edition of 'The Brothers Karamazov'!

Selections from the Book of Common Prayer are here, with short readings from the Quran; Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales (childhood rhymes about misadventurous lads) & a snippet from Cellini's autobiography; a comically earthy snippet of Herodotus (Herodotus funny? Who knew? Waite did!); a sinister few pages from Koestler's "Darkness at Noon." The Catholic writers Bede Griffiths and Carlo Carretto are present, as well as Harry Williams, a 20th-century Anglican (new to us) writing on the Resurrection in a lucid, unhackneyed, & heartwarming manner. Other divines include Hubert Northcott, an Anglican monk, and Kallistos Ware, the Orthodox bishop.

There is Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and Michael Innes's "Appleby's End"; there's part of a mystery by Dorothy Sayers in which Lord Peter Wimsey utters the most extraordinarily surreal bits of dialogue (Frasier Crane on acid?); there is Belloc again, and William Styron, detailing mishaps during travels through Italy; also, Susan Howatch, Hermann Hesse; Stephen Spender (a poem and a lapidary few paragraphs from his autobiography). And of course, there is John Bunyan (and Waite's tale of the postcard).

This is a book in which the good-humoured and genial personality of Terry Waite meshes wonderfully with the very fine selections he has chosen. Must I return it to the library? Well, not for a while, anyway.

Books to have on a desert island..........1998-05-07

Terry Waite's moving account of how his sanity was saved during his solitary captivity by books read and books remembered. This contains short excerpts of books he read and remembered.

I had never before had much interest in Hesse, having read only one work of his. Many of the authors on spiritual topics are ones of whom I had never heard, but wish now to read. You will come from this book both deeply moved and with a longer reading list.

Simple but powerful........1997-12-31

As Terry Waite told me when he signed my copy, "this is a simple record," yet it is powerful in its simplicity. While he was in solitary confinement, more than four years, he did not have many books but had much time to contemplate them. This is a record of what he did read and what he wished he could read during that time, with small samples from those works. It was enjoyable as well as very thought provoking.

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Notre Dame: Footfalls in Time

Manufacturer: Harmony House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1564690695

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FOOTFALL
Larry and Jerry Pournelle Niven
Manufacturer: Orbit
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K5O2WM

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Footfall

Manufacturer: del ray
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HA0W42

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Footfall

Manufacturer: Godwit Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Footfall
Larry & Pournelle, Jerry Niven
Manufacturer: Del Rey/Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NURRA8

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Informative and Inspirational

Clear, human and faithful

Wish I had read this years ago

Wonderful!

A Journey Through Catholic Life and Places

Letters to a Young Catholic (Art of Mentoring)
George Weigel
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Catholicism | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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The Courage to Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform and the Future of the Church

God's Choice : Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church

The Cube And The Cathedral: Europe, America and Politics Without God

Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, And the Splendor of Truth

Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II

ASIN: 0465092624
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

What it means to live, believe, and see things as a Catholic, from the bestselling theologian and biographer of Pope John Paul II.

In this remarkable tour of the Catholic world, George Weigel helps us understand how Catholicism fosters what Flannery O'Connor called "the habit of being." Taking the reader by the hand, Weigel embarks on a journey to Catholic landmarks as diverse as Chartres Cathedral and St. Mary's Church in Greenville, South Carolina; the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and G.K. Chesterton's favorite pub; the grave of a modern martyr in Warsaw, and the Sistine Chapel. Weaving together insights from history, literature, theology, and music, Weigel uses these touchstones to illuminate the beliefs that have shaped Catholicism for two thousand years.

With clarity and conviction, Weigel examines the foundations of Catholic faith and explores the topics of grace, prayer, vocation, sin and forgiveness, suffering, and-most importantly-love. Putting a dramatic face on this invitation to Catholicism, Weigel introduces some of the figures who have shaped his faith and thought-Michelangelo and Fra Angelico; Evelyn Waugh and Cardinal John Henry Newman; Father Jerzy Popieuszko and Pope John Paul II; Edith Stein and Mother Teresa-as he also shares anecdotes from his own Catholic life. To a world that sometimes seems closed and claustrophobic, he suggests, Christian humanism offers a world with windows and doors-and a skylight.

In these letters, George Weigel conveys the power of a faith that is at once personal and universal, timely and eternal. His book will inspire not only the young generation of Catholics whose World Youth Day celebrations have launched an era of renewal for the Church, but also the faithful, the doubtful, and the searchers of every age.

Customer Reviews:

Informative and Inspirational.......2007-09-28

Letters to a Young Catholic is a great book, not only for young Catholics, but for Catholics of any age, and even for non-Catholics. George Weigel covers many of the basic tenets of the Catholic faith, but his main concern in the book is to present the unique Catholic worldview and "habit of being." The result is often inspiring. Weigel helps the reader to see the world in a distinctly Catholic light, and thus leads the reader to a greater appreciation of the Catholic life and the exciting world in which it takes place.

Two particularly good chapters discuss Flannery O'Connor and the discovery of St. Peter's tomb (and bones) under St. Peter's Basilica. These chapters are especially effective in conveying the reality and the excitement of the Catholic faith. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Clear, human and faithful.......2007-06-03

Wonderful book. In agnostic and functional times as our century, George Weigel is able to put in simple words the enormous richness of Catholic faith. No matter if one is young Catholic by age, conversion or spirit, "Letters to a Young Catholic" is worth to read.

Wish I had read this years ago.......2006-12-31

I read Mr. Weigel's book a few months ago but wish I'd read it back in divinity school. It would have equipped me to deal with the arogance and leveling that is so typical of the graduate seminar.

This is a good introduction to Roman Catholicism. Mr. Wiegel takes the reader through the basics of Catholic theology, including God, the Trinity, the atonement, and the sacraments; there's also quite a bit of art and literary history thrown in as well.

This book was a major find. I wasn't expecting much from it--the word "Young" in the title is misleading--as it's a book for all ages. Still, at 33, I sort of had a religious experience while reading this book. I can't recommend it enough and look forward to reading it again.

Also recommended: The Gospel of Arnie

Wonderful!.......2006-07-31

Being a Catholic my entire life, this book was excellent because it explained the way of the church in such an amazing way. I loved the way things like Mary, how we believe the Earth is good, and women not being priests was explained. I would definately get this book if you are Catholic or are thinking about becoming Catholic.

A Journey Through Catholic Life and Places.......2006-06-09

George Weigel travels through Catholic and not Catholic places, and uses those places as a launching pad for discussion on Catholic ideas, people, and places. He starts off the book talking about Baltimore (the birthplace of the Baltimore Catechism) and Milledgeville (the birthplace of a great American writer and Catholic, Flannery O'Connor) and discusses the Catholic difference. The next chapter he talks of the scavi of St. Peter's and what it means to be a Christian. This continues through the whole book, taking a place and discussing what it means to be a Catholic.

George Weigel's books are consistently informative and easy to read. This book is no exception.

By Love Refined: Letters to a Young Bride

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Ignoring marriage's real challenges
Get Ready to be a Wife
Great Wedding or Shower Gift
Exception for all stages of marriage

By Love Refined: Letters to a Young Bride
Alice Von Hildebrand
Manufacturer: Sophia Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Marriage | Relationships | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0918477514

Customer Reviews:

Ignoring marriage's real challenges.......2003-05-07

While this book uses an interesting format - letters from an older mentor to a young bride - it seems to sidestep the true difficulties that married couples face. The bride, Julie, appears to have written to her penpal about various marital issues: morning crankiness, occasionally unsatisfying sex, her husband's little irritating habits such as knuckle-cracking.

How lucky we are if that's the worst it gets! How about the really tough questions? Like infidelity? Or financial stress? Or substance addiction? Or major health issues? These are all real-life problems that couples struggle with - not just deciding which social events to attend (a topic the writers discuss at length).

Maybe the book was just meant to be a sweet romp through a picture-perfect marriage. But if people are turning to the book for wisdom, its rose-tinted view of life and marriage could severely mislead newlyweds. A more realistic book might help them avoid that.

Get Ready to be a Wife.......2000-02-02

Excellent book that prepares you to be a wife and have a healthy relationship with your spouse.

Great Wedding or Shower Gift.......1999-12-07

I received a copy of this book as a gift when I was engaged. It was an excellent way to help prepare for marriage, not just the wedding day. Now we give it to almost all the young couples we know when they get married. It is easy to read but full of excellent PRACTICAL advice on how to have a wonderful marriage. I highly recommend it!

Exception for all stages of marriage.......1998-07-07

This book should be read continuiously throughout all phases of marriage. It is exceptional, light reading which brings its points across quickly and easily for all to ponder and reflect on. After being married for some years, I see what paths I have taken and where I haven't. It lets you now your not alone in the frustrations to reaching successful fulfillment of a Christian marriage. To Mrs Von Hildebrand, thank you.

And Young Men Shall See Visions: Letters from Andrew M. Greeley

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And Young Men Shall See Visions: Letters from Andrew M. Greeley
Andrew M. Greeley
Manufacturer: Sheed and Ward
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007DSI86

Basil: Letters, Volume IV, Letters 249-368. Address to Young Men on Greek Literature. (Loeb Classical Library No. 270)

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A Truly Wonderful Mind

Basil: Letters, Volume IV, Letters 249-368. Address to Young Men on Greek Literature. (Loeb Classical Library No. 270)
Basil
Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674992989

Book Description

Basil the Great was born ca. 330 CE at Caesarea in Cappadocia into a family noted for piety. He was at Constantinople and Athens for several years as a student with Gregory of Nazianzus and was much influenced by Origen. For a short time he held a chair of rhetoric at Caesarea, and was then baptized. He visited monasteries in Egypt and Palestine and sought out the most famous hermits in Syria and elsewhere to learn how to lead a pious and ascetic life; but he decided that communal monastic life and work were best. About 360 he founded in Pontus a convent to which his sister and widowed mother belonged. Ordained a presbyter in 365, in 370 he succeeded Eusebius in the archbishopric of Caesarea, which included authority over all Pontus. He died in 379. Even today his reform of monastic life in the east is the basis of modern Greek and Slavonic monasteries.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Basil's Letters is in four volumes.

Customer Reviews:

A Truly Wonderful Mind.......2006-08-08

St. Basil is one of the most eloquent fathers of the Church. This volume is a collection of letters. But perhaps most importantly, it contains an essay of his, To Young Men. This essay discusses clearly and succinctly the reasonable use and application of Classical sources (i.e. Greek and Latin) within a Christian's life. He successfuly argues, as do other Fathers, that "all truth is God's truth." Not only may the Classics be used, but there is almost an imperative to use them, to sift through what good there is, and to identify the chaff.

No Christian seriously pursuing academic studies (not just theology students, but all!) should be ignorant of this work. It will allow you to open your mind to what the Academy has to offer without giving up your religious roots.

And young men shall see vision: Letters from Andrew M Greeley

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A Challenge To Become

And young men shall see vision: Letters from Andrew M Greeley
Andrew M Greeley
Manufacturer: Sheed and Ward
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007E1YOU

Customer Reviews:

A Challenge To Become.......2006-10-05

This book is easy to read. Each chapter takes the form of a letter written to a young man challenging him to consider some facet of his life as it has been, is now and could be, all in the light of Catholic and Christian virtues. The author does not attempt to preach doctrine or dogma, but takes some of the established beliefs and asks the reader to consider the application of these in one's life as a catalyst for growth, a growth inspired and energized by a vision of what a man's life in Christ should be and evolve into as he leaves behind the fog of childhood and begins the pilgrimage of responsible adulthood. The advice does not always provide definite answers, but honest questions for continuous reflection and perfection during the sometimes perilous but adventurous journey.

The Catholic. Letters addressed by a jurist to a young kinsman proposing to join the Church of Rome

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The Catholic. Letters addressed by a jurist to a young kinsman proposing to join the Church of Rome
E. H Derby
Manufacturer: John P. Jewett and Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000859U3U

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The Catholic. Letters addressed by a Jurist to a Young Kinsman proposing to join the Church of Rome.
E. H. Derby
Manufacturer: John P. Jewett & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KIV2NG

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The Catholic: Letters Addressed by a Jurist to a Young Kinsman
E.H. Derby
Manufacturer: Boston: John P. Jewett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UF9240

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Letters of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
William Young
Manufacturer: Loyola Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This collection of 228 letters written by St. Ignatius is a self-portrait of the saint.

Timothy;: Or, Letters to a young theologian

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Timothy;: Or, Letters to a young theologian
Franz Hettinger
Manufacturer: B. Herder
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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