Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1466716 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.62 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 463 pages

From Amazon.com
It is hard to believe that this is the first and only full biography of Fulton J. Sheen, perhaps the most important American priest of the 20th century. Sheen was an enormously popular figure in his day, hosting radio and television programs that introduced and explained his faith to millions of listeners and viewers. (He even won an Emmy Award, and the actor Martin Sheen took his stage name from the man.) Thomas C. Reeves, author of the JFK biography A Question of Character, offers an absorbing account of Sheen's life and times. He uncovers fascinating details, including a phony academic degree and the particulars of a bitter dogfight with Francis Cardinal Spellman. Although this is not a hagiographic account, it is an admiring one: Sheen comes across as an astoundingly smart, charismatic, and generous man. No wonder he was such a successful evangelizer: he converted thousands, including Henry Ford II and Claire Booth Luce. He gained some notoriety for his strong anticommunism; reading America's Bishop, in fact, provides a concise history of Catholic anticommunism in the United States. It is an outstanding book that will appeal to fans of George Weigel's Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II and anybody else attracted to this fascinating figure. --John Miller

From Library Journal
One of the most influential American Catholic churchmen of the 20th century, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979) here receives overdue historical and biographical attention. Reeves (history, Univ. of Wisconsin, Parkside), the author of various studies on U.S. presidents, liberal Christianity, and 20th-century U.S. history (e.g., A Question of Character: The Life of John F. Kennedy), applies meticulous scholarly investigation to his subject. He shows how Sheen influenced millions of people, teaching theology and philosophy at Catholic University (1926-50) and preaching on radio and television broadcasts that drew many converts, both high-profile and ordinary. A careful reading of Sheen's books which numbered over 60 reveals the staunch faith and proven scholarship underlying his media popularization of religion. Sheen also raised millions for the world's poor and publicly opposed communism, racism, and the Vietnam War. Differences with New York's Cardinal Spellman led him into "exile" as Bishop of Rochester, NY (1966-69), after which he continued to preach, travel, write, and maintain a voluminous correspondence. Reeves has done a yeoman's service in gathering fragmented sources and pointing out archival deficiencies on his subject. Highly recommended for most libraries. Anna M. Donnelly, St. John's Univ., Jamaica, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Reeves does an outstanding job of painting a multifaceted portrait of a complex public figure. The most prominent and influential Catholic personality in the U.S., the charismatic Sheen hosted his own Emmy Award-winning TV show during his heyday in the 1950s. Able to reach millions of viewers and potential converts at one time, he became the foremost evangelist for the Roman Catholic Church. A gifted orator, theologian, and philosopher, the often controversial preacher tackled a variety of sensitive subjects, including the inherent evil of racism, the threat of Communism, and the rise of secularism in American society. Although an admirer of Sheen, the author does not gloss over his subject's all-too-human failings, documenting Sheen's less-than-saintly struggles with greed, vanity, and pride. Margaret Flanagan
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