In Mr. Waugh's second novel, the absurdity of humankind is explored. The reader is allowed to follow a brief period in the lives of the "Bright Young People." They are young Londoners of the early 1930's who are well educated and from good families. Through the trials of the protagonist, Adam Fenwick-Symes, the reader is able to see the silliness of human existence. The "Bright Young People" spends their days and nights avoiding all real human experiences, especially love. Mr. Waugh chronicles a time in England when the motto "eat, drink and be merry" was embraced as a spiritual philosophy. At times, passages in this book are very amusing, but it never fails to recognize how life can be wasted when people are just "vile bodies."

One of the wittiest, and ultimately saddest, novels about the "lost generation" of the early 20th century. Waugh writes about arrogant, self-centered, wealthy, vapid, young socialites in the period of The Great War, when social mores and traditions were being reexamined and reconstructed or, in some cases, summarily destroyed. Waugh was one of the great chroniclers of the decline and fall of the aristocracy in the 20th century. Like Ronald Firbank, Waugh often gave his characters the most absurd names, such as Mrs. Melrose Ape, Lottie Crump, Judge Skimp, The Honourable Miles Malpractice, Mary Mouse, etc. Having done this, he has to work that much harder to make us identify and empathize with the characters, if indeed we ever really can. Waugh also has his characters spout the most inane, banal dialogue, even in their moments of greatest conflict and turmoil. It is difficult, for instance, to fathom Adam Fenwick-Symes' emotional distress from his thrice-broken engagement to Nina Blount from her comment: "It is a bore, isn't it?" (83). Despite the richness and abundance of the humour, there is an underlying tension, a darkness, which permeates the work from the opening sentence: "It was clearly going to be a bad crossing" (9). The beauty of this novel is in the juxtaposition of comical imagery and dialogue with the spectre of death and destruction looming large. There is a constant negotiation between personal "crises" and a burgeoning global catastrophe. We are often shocked by the intrusion of the real and violent into the placid, literate meta-world of the characters. Thus we read, for instance, the hilarious tabloid journalism of Simon Balcairn/Mr. Chatterbox interspersed with the grisply details of his desperate suicide (106). Or Agnes Runcible's attempt at car-racing, which ends with a crash and a nurse assuring the suffering Agnes: There's nothing to worry about, dear . . . nothing at all . . . nothing" (200). The words are delivered just as Agnes is slipping into a fatal coma. Despite the fact that the narrative is a string of wild parties ("Masked parties, Savage parties, Victorian paraties, Greek parties, Wild West parties, Russian parties, Circus parties, parties where one had to dress as somebody else, almost naked parties in St. John's wood, parties in flates and studios and houses and ships and hotels and night clubs, in windmills and swimming-baths . . . all that succession and repetition of massed humanity . . . Those vile bodies" [123]), these heady days end with "the most terrible and unexpected thing -- War has been declared" (219). Waugh then adds a brief, ironically-titled "Happy Ending" chapter set in "the biggest battlefield in the history of the world" (220), with Adam literally in the trenches fighting for his life. He encounters a young girl known as "Chastity" in the earlier part of the narrative. Sold into prostitution in South America and now living the wretched existence of "comfort girl" during the war, hers is the worst fate of the Bright Young Things of Mayfair. Easy to dismiss because of its brevity and its wit, this is a brilliant and important novel.

My favorite of Waugh's books, _Vile Bodies_ continues to be as timely now as before in many ways. Hilarious and absurd, it is a quick read and well worth the investment in time.

Approaching mid life and feeling restless in the world of London's fashion industry in the 1950s, Eric Newby asked a friend to go mountain climbing in the Hindu Kish. Newby quits his job, puts his affairs in order and, together with his friend, sets off for an adventure in Northeastern Afghanistan. Their walk was not short and they almost reached the summit of 19,880 foot Mir Samir, but not before stopping for four days of instruction about mountain climbing in Wales. Newby's description of the geography and peoples he encountered along the way opens the door a little further and provides another peek on one of the most mysterious regions of the world. Unlike many books in this genre that are often told in a breathless, self promoting style, Newby's approach is modest, self effacing and understated, right down to the title. This book is a delight!

Eric Newby's account of his trip to the Hindu Kush is a book both daunting and delightful. He makes light of the incompetence and ignorance of both himself and his companion in the realm of climbing and exploring. Yet what they achieve is nothing short of remarkable, given their level of ignorance. Perhaps a more experienced team would have sensibly given up in the face of hunger, illness and cold. Messrs. Newby and Carless soldier on and the account, understandably slightly incoherent, is both funny, self-deprecating and very, very readable. Their account of a chance meeting with the famous explorer Wilfred Thesiger is recounted, far less humorously, by the great man in one of his recent books.

They don't come sweeter than this. Facing middle age, Eric Newby abandons his chosen career as a fashion wholesaler to embark on a whimsical journey to remotest Afghanistan to attempt a mighty peak that has never been climbed. His companion, an old friend, knows as much about high-altitude (or ANY) climbing as he does: not a skerrick. They are almost parodies of a vanished England - absurdly brave, amateurish and uncomplaining; Newby's account of their scratchings up airy ice-walls will have the sweat springing from your palms. Along the way we get a rich insight into the rare mountain societies of one of the most mysterious nations on earth, but it is Newby's character itself that makes this book such a joy. Self-mocking, his courage entirely inferred, Newby's modesty holds until the final hilarious, appalling line. We may not want to go climbing with him, but we'd welcome his company on any journey. In fact, Newby's courage was always a key to his personality. His teenage years were spent as a high-rigging sailor on grain ships in the Southern Ocean. In World War Two he was a commando with the Special Boat Squadron. His capture, escape, and life on the run is memorably recounted in another of his classics "Love and War in the Appennines." But for me, "A Short Walk.." remains his most charming, exciting and extraordinary book.

While this was Waugh's least favourite of his own books, the one that he blamed for exposing him to the trials of fan mail and public recognition, it is in fact, a great and glorious book. Spanning the short adult life of Sebastian Flyte, it is told retrospectively through the eyes of his friend and former lover Charles, who goes on, once youthful experimentation is over, to carry on an equally passionate and hopeless love affair with Sebastian's sister. But in some ways, these themes are not the great story. The larger pictures are of the slackening grip of British aristocracy, the power of love and the power of Faith. Waugh paints a masterpiece of the sweet, desperate years between the wars, at Oxford, in London and Paris, with one generation lost and the next helplessly watching history lurching towards a repetition of the same madness.

Brideshead is a gloomy book but a must-read nonetheless. I am sometimes embarassed to say I liked it enough to read it twice and I'm sure that I'll read it again. I read mostly for the story- (not particularly postmodern of me) and for the pleasure of perceiving with some hard intimacy the lives and surroundings of a period and time that is no more and wouldn't have been mine anyway. The Catholic intensity would be meaningless to a younger lapsed soul, but even in my American youth, the religion as destiny- for better or worse- was certainly a part of my parents' top ten issues of life. As such, they were also for the younger me.
Waugh's own yearnings for lineage and the rest of inheritance and 'class' are transformed into a good story with details of snobbery and those horridly cold (British upperclass) childhoods. Those children became adults only having born consequences of World War, modernism and legacies of excess- religious and alcoholic. All of those were certainly bedeviling Waugh as much as any of his creations. No doubt the novel was chosen by a smart BBC producer for the very same details that made the book work for me. If you are a reader of Waugh or Nancy Mitford or any of the first half of the 20th century 'greats,' I cannot imagine that you would forego Brideshead- if only because it is certainly more serious, and in that, more silly. Even his lesser literary efforts- and God knows he had plenty of those-reflected his superstardom, his trajectory as one of the most multifaceted authors.

I had a friend who made it a point to read "Brideshead Revisited" once a year without fail. She considered it the finest book ever written. While I might quarrel with that hyperbole, I do in fact list it in my own personal top ten. I, too, re-read it, in my case, every few years. And of course I was riveted to the brilliant BBC production starring Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder.

Imagine my delight, then, when I found this unabridged reading by Irons himself! My delight was rewarded. Irons' perfect reading of this book opened up a whole new world for me. This time, I heard and felt the absolute poetry of Waugh's words--his ability to take his reader from sultry ... summertime to the slums of the Casbah to a storm at sea that is the perfect metaphor for the turmoil to come. Waugh never wasted a word. Never said more than he had to say. Never helped the reader by sugarcoating the story. And the result was breathtaking.

Maybe because I was listening this time rather than reading, I paid much more attention this time to the book's main theme, religion versus humanity. Can one exist without the other? Does one destroy the other? How far can one stray when bound by the "invisible thread"? Waugh's very personal and moving tale of upper-class Catholics in a Protestant country is a brilliant affirmation of faith, and at the same time, a bitter acknowledgement of the price that faith can exact.

I cannot say enough about this recording, which brings all the best of Waugh to the fore even more so than the written word.

This book continues the 'Sword of Honor" trilogy begun with Men at Arms. Halberdier Guy Crouchback returns from Africa chastened, but still anxious to serve his country in its time of need. Dismissed from his regiment due to his complicity in the death of his friend Apthorpe, Guy is now assigned to a Commando unit. As part of a patchwork group called Hookforce, X Commando reaches the island of Crete just in time to cover the retreat and embarkation of the regular Allied forces, and are left with orders to surrender to the enemy after the other groups have left.

Once again, Waugh points his dry English wit at the freshly-commissioned British officers of WWII to amusing effect, while still making serious points about the readiness of British forces and the military suitability of Britain's gentry. For example, one running gag is an officer frantically rushing to headquarters only to find that the commander doesn't know what to do with him. The comedic high point is when Trimmer (a former hairdresser) is sent on a largely pointless mission by officers who are desperate to score a success - any success - in order to improve public perceptions of their unit. Operation Popgun goes awry when the sub gets lost and accidentally stumbles into enemy territory, and when a sergeant, acting without orders, blows up a supply train, a clever reporter manages to describe the mission as a dramatic success, rather than the comedy of errors that it actually was.

More serious are the concluding sections that describe various characters' arduous withdrawal from Crete. While there may be some black humor in these scenes, they seem to played more for dramatic effect, to show how men react to such harrowing situations. Although Major Hound, Guy, and Ivor Claire each make different choices, one can scarcely say that one was really better than the other.

Readers who enjoyed Men at Arms will find this volume rather darker, with less emphasis on hijinks and more on military action. Men at Arms really should be read first, however, because this volume assumes a certain familiarity with Crouchback's personality and military record, as well as some of the minor characters who are referred to frequently. If you read Men at Arms but didn't really care for it, be forewarned: this book isn't any funnier, but delves a little more deeply into the misery of war.

Waugh does it again. The man is amazing. Best war trilogy ever. Don't miss this book. He puts all others to shame. Should be a movie, too. Better than Lord of the Rings. Et al. Etc.

Poor Paul Pennyfeather! As the "hero" of Evelyn Waugh's first novel he is barely worth a cent and light as pillow stuffing. This flimsiness of character may cause concern unto lack of concern in the reader who wishes to strongly identify with the protagonist, but halfway through the book, Waugh's narrator assures us that Pennyfeather's hollowness is intentional:

"In fact, the whole of this book is really an account of the mysterious disappearance of Paul Pennyfeather, so that readers must not complain if the shadow which took his name does not amply fill the important part of hero for which he was originally cast."

Pennyfeather is someone who is acted upon more than he acts--perhaps it is better to say he is more sinned against than sinning--his story begins when he is attacked in an Oxford quad by a group of his snobbish bully classmates. They strip him naked from the waist down and before he knows it the university has expelled him for indecent behavior. He then loses his allowance and ends up teaching in a disreputable prep school in Wales where adventures continue to be inflicted upon him.

Waugh never allows Pennyfeather to defend himself, his satirical point being that an English gentleman wouldn't stoop to blame those who had wronged him, even if it means he goes to jail. After all, his irrepressible fellow teacher Grimes tells Paul, no matter how bad things get, there is "a blessed equity in the English social system that insures the public school man [public schools in England are actually private] against starvation." It's that social system that the young Waugh, twenty-five when this book was published, enjoys puffing up just to tear it down. Waugh maintains a light narrative touch though his subject matter is often serious and occasionally outrageous. He structures the book well and has a sharp appreciation for the absurdities of the English upper classes in the 1920s that is not inapplicable to many other time periods and cultures.

DECLINE AND FALL did not make me laugh as much as I thought it might. There are funnier English campus comedies out there, notably Kingsley Amis's LUCKY JIM and the first part of Waugh's own BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Waugh was one of the twentieth century's great stylists, however, and I look forward to reading his second book, VILE BODIES.

More deadpan than hilarious, "Decline and Fall" is the story of Paul Pennyfeather, who seems not only to attract misfortune but to embrace it as his due. While depicting Pennyfeather's downward trajectory, Waugh skewers the pretensions and mocks the hypocrisy of every class of British society. Although I trust Waugh did not mean for the reader to sympathize with Pennyfeather, who is truly an apathetic oaf, I (ironically) found him surprisingly likable.

Blameless throughout, Pennyweather resignedly and almost eagerly accepts punishment for crimes committed by others. (In prison, he positively enjoys solitary confinement for its regimen and its lack of stress.) Some of Waugh's commentary is a bit pedestrian, especially to modern readers, but he occasionally and fearlessly tackles weighty and "scandalous" themes: the apostasy of the clergy ("modern churchmen who drew their pay without the necessity of the commitment to any religious belief"), the excesses of the prison reform movement ("So far as possible, I like the prisoners to carry on with their avocations in civilized life. What's this man's profession, officer?" "White Slave traffic, sir."), and societal attitudes towards an aristocratic lady who takes a black American lover (and her own patronizing posture). This last subplot, it must be said, makes uncomfortable reading, because the black character barely rises above stereotype, because Waugh unflinchingly uses racial epithet, and because ultimately the reader is not quite sure where Waugh is coming from.

Much of Waugh's satire is dated, but (like Candide) Paul Pennyweather is a virtuous nobody whose misadventures transcend time. The edition from Everyman Library also includes an astute introduction from the critic Frank Kermode, who provides useful background for the book instead of assuming you've already read it.

Waugh's first novel is an outrageous satire that pokes fun at the British class system, religion, and education. If one does not take it at all seriously, then it is a howlingly funny book. His "hero," Paul Pennyfeather, and the other characters float in and out of various kinds of trouble without seeming to learn a single thing. Best moment - the casual, but horrifying fate of poor little Lord Tangent. The amusing illustrations drawn by Waugh himself are a delightful bonus. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more of Waugh.

BLACK MISCHIEF is the sixth Waugh book I've read, and it's one of his funniest. The plot concerns goings-on in the fictional African empire of Azania (which is supposed to be off the coast of present day Somalia). Civil war has just erupted, and an English educated Azanian named Seth ends up the victor. He gets caught up with the British legation, including frivolous Basil Seal (an acquaintance of the recurring Waugh character - Lady Metroland). Basil is made the Minister of Moderization and has Seth's constant ear. Naturally, things spiral downward from there. BLACK MISCHIEF starts off a bit slow, and the first 75 pages are a bit tedious and confusing. However, things really take off afterwards. Waugh is always funny, but this book has more laugh-out-loud moments than most of his novels. Highly recommended for fans of Waugh and good satirical novels.

The only humor today that even comes close to that of Black Mischief, is ironically, that of the outrageous, black comedians- otherwise Waugh rules.
The whole concept of the British in exotic countries is a farce, and when mixed with Waugh's equally lunatic native characters face to face with bizarre and inexplicable Western civilization- whew- anything could and does happen. There are no noble characters, of course, but redeeming fools, which is about as good as one can get in a Wauvian satire. My favorites are the animal rights ladies who come to Africa to see that the natives are treating their livestock well. These ladies, one named Miss Tin, land in the midst of a revolution and have to hit a driver in the head with a brandy bottle to get a ride to the English settlement. They followed a fellow anti-vivesectionist cleric who led the ministry of our `dumb chums.'
There is every kind of European religion stirring up trouble and as usual, the British are completely sequestered amongst themselves preoccupied with their gardens and other habits in blissful and selfish ignorance. The leader of these Imperialists is described as "a self-assured old booby." One of the titled females is named `Lady Everyman.'

The political relevance is so acute that it seems impossible that this was written in 1932. Waugh even seems to have some political consciousness in this book, certainly, he is gentler, on the whole while being enduringly funny. I would definitely place this as my second favorite Waugh. It has a gripping end and is a statement less of bigotry, (of which he probably was one, but who wasn't,) but also of the need to reevaluate what in the name of God all of the colonizing was about.

In the novel "Black Mischief", Evelyn Waugh portrays the clash between deep rooted african traditional mind and western civilizational values, in an highly funny, irreverent and iconoclastic way, making absolutely no concessions to lofty mindedness - the book was written in 1932 and I must advise that political correctness believers can be shocked with some of the expressions of Waugh's literary speech.

This is an ideal work to provoke laugh and more laugh, but is also an excellent point of start to reflect about the condition of the african continent, very especially, his post-colonial reality. Waugh's work, a simple satire in the 30's, became partially the sad picture of Africa's nowadays situation.

Available at www.amazon.com/uk, usually shipped in 24 hours.

Brideshead Revisited is a memoir of Charles Ryder that takes a look at the British upper class as the world around them begins to change with the advent of war. The tale begins with the bored wealthy students in Oxford, living lives of self-indulgence and irresponsibility. This is where Charles Ryder first comes into contact with Sebastian Flyte and eventually meets the rest of the Marchmain family group. The story evolves into one of attraction, love and the search for happiness and self. It takes it's own unique path including escapism in alcohol, denial of faith, desperate longings for acceptance and the desire to both please and placate (while infuriating and denying) family. It is the moral tale of what people truly long for and seek out when the material things of the world lose their ability to entrance and delight. When the realities of life rush in and cause individuals to take a true look at what is critical to their heart and soul, what they are willing to compromise and what they suddenly find can not be compromised at any cost, this is the glory of this classic and timeless novel. From the first visit to Brideshead, the Marchmain family's imposing residence, Charles Ryder is struck by the discordant notes of Sebastian's family. Time reveals the tragedy of a family with a desire to appear traditional and socially accepted in the "correct" circle. They are pulled apart by the inflexibility and controlling behavior exhibited within the walls of Brideshead. The story affects a misleading attitude of indifference, neither condemning nor sanctioning any conduct or behavior that occurs. This is a critical part of the brilliance of Evelyn Waugh's tale, which in effect brings the characters and the reader to a startling conclusion at the finale.

Just as *The Great Gatsby* captured the grand excess of the American Jazz Age, so too does Evelyn Waugh's masterpiece *Bridehead Revisited* capture the age of pre-war decadence. The clash between have and have not, so called class and commonness and Catholocism and athieism is brilliantly laid agains a backdrop of education and sexuality. A true coming of age novel, *Bridehead* captures a portrait of a young Charles Ryder as an artist. Content to live his destiny of middle class anguish, Charles meets the challange of his lifetime in Sebastian Flyte. Sebastian, an over grwon child, introduces Charles to a teddy bear named Aloysius, as well as his own upper crust band of misfits family who change the way Charles thinks about life, love, religion and money forever. From Oxford to the war, Waugh gives the reader a hint of a Britain loyal to the monarchy, yet more loyal to themselves. Read *Brideshead* with an open mind of the beauty you are receiving as a reader: the sybolism of the flower throughout, grand side characters like Anthony Blanche, and the little red light near the end that ties up Charles Ryder's visit to Brideshead in the same manner the green light across the lake summed up Gatsby's.

This book deals with many themes, friendship, love, duty, religion, and art. Charting the declining fortunes of the Catholic Flyte family, we are introduced one by one to the dysfunctional but totally charming members of the family, from Sebastian who turns from a beautiful but lightheaded student to a hopeless dipsomaniac; his father, mother, sisters and brother who are all affected by their Catholicism in different ways. We see Julia emerge from a social butterfly to a depressed beauty; Cordelia from a quaint child to a devoted nurse... all through the eyes of Charles Ryder, who himself undergoes a series of transitions from idealistic twenty-year-old to disillusioned artist. it is a poetic book about 'forerunners', how he first loves Sebastian then Julia, then learns to appreciate Cordelia for her strengths, and finally is able to love the House ---Brideshead Castle. A moving and almost epic book. Reviewed by FMJ Shaw

This being the third of Waugh's novels I have read, it is probably my favorite. Waugh is easily the most readable of the great British authors of the 20th century.'A Handful of Dust' is not as funny as 'SCOOP' but it is sharp satire of British society. The book has alternate endings and I prefer the one where Tony and Brenda reunite.

The story centers around the Last family, principally Tony and his wife Brenda. All the elements of the demise of a marriage are contained in this masterpiece - a stodgy husband, a cheating wife, and a tragic death. Beware ladies because the females in the novel are on a whole as weak and superficial a group as ever encountered. Waugh at the time of its writing was reportedly recovering from a failed romance and no doubt was influenced by a jilting fiance. Brenda Last,in particular, is a character you will love to dislike. Brenda's infatuation with the 'neer do well' mama's boy, John Beaver, stretches the reader's imagination.

Both conclusions are appropiate and you will be staisfied with either.

In this book, the protagonist is Tony Last, an Englishman who would much rather tend to his beloved estate in th country than join his wife on trips to see their arrogant and aristocratic friends in London. Brenda, the wife, becomes bored with their quaint life, has an affair, and Tony's son dies in an accident. In a strange twist, on a trip to South America near the book's end, he ends up in the dense jungle in the care of an illiterate man who promises to let him go but instead forces him to read aloud from Dickens. The main idea is that betrayal follows Tony wherever he goes-- from his wife in England to the enigmatic man in the jungle. It's a enormously humorous satire of the London aristocracy,in which the people treat their "friends' misfortunes as entertainment. In fact, they gossip about the affair his wife is having in his own house, during a party he is throwing. The jungle is a parable for London-- seemingly harmless at first, but with dark undercurrents of backstabbing, lies, and treachery. A terrific novel by a Waugh, a brilliant writer.

Written by Evelyn Waugh in 1934, this British novel is a biting satire of the silly lives of the upper class. The author is master of the nuanced barb and he uses them with seeming delight and controlled rage. It is an unpleasant book to read and I know I would hate the author if I met him in person, and yet I can appreciate his skill in creating the discomforting atmosphere, his fascination with things that go wrong, and the dark side of human nature.

Tony Last, an aristocrat who devotes himself to the upkeep of his expensive ancestral home is blind to the infidelities of his wife Brenda, who parties in London with her sycophantic lover. There's a whole cast of vapid characters, each exquisitely developed with revealing detail. When tragedy strikes it's like a piece of chalk scraped upon a blackboard, and as the story continues to unfold, and Tony travels to the jungles of Brazil, the plot swerves into a painful absurdity. It's all one big farce and yet there is no comic relief. And by the end of the book, only sadness prevails.

I must give this book a high ranking however because of Mr. Waugh's skill and his uncanny ability to uncover some painful human truths that I'd rather not see. I can therefore only recommend it to students of human nature who are willing to be tormented in the same way the author torments his characters. Just be forewarned.

Mr. Pinfold has become ill from his use of drugs, food and alcohol, and is in general dried up as far as writing goes. In order to "take the sea air" and follow his doctor's orders he embarks upon a cruise. He does not, however, stop the sleeping medications, and is probably seriously clinically depressed as well. the combination becomes the conduit for a series of hallucinations which become a nightmare and a reality for Gilbert Pinfold. Although humerous, the book is crafted in such a way that we see the suffering that losing touch with reality causes, and when Gilbert finally arrives at port and at peace, we are glad we read the book, and glad the author recovered his muse.

If there are any aspiring writers of comic novels out there then I earnestly entreat you to have a quick read of this book. Writing humour is never easy but here is the great Evelyn Waugh showing how to do it. Not a word out of place, the mot juste on every occasion, prose stripped down to the bare minimum.
I read this book about twice a year. It is very short and can be read in a day. And, heavens!, how hilarious it is!
It is based on a true life cruise that Waugh went on in which he really did start to hear voices.
It is not one of his most well-known so it can be hard to obtain; it's well worth it though!

I first read this book after having exited the anguish of a doubting Christianity into the calm of a composed agnosticism 40 years ago.

I return to this book again and again and probably re-read it every 3-4 years. Never missing an opportunity to recommend it.

It reads like a thriller. The story unfolds inexorably to its inevitable climax, from the scholarly peace of Oxford where Campion was a foremost scholar of genius in the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, to its ultimately savage and bloody end on the gallows at Tyburn.

The story could be seen by some as one of undoubting faith. By others, perhaps, as a story of a scholar obligated by an absolute intellectual integrity and then driven helplessly, to his destiny, by an academically remorseless logic after his conclusion of the fallibilities of the reformation.

Whichever view one takes Campion was a hero in voice and in deed. His life was a poem. His writings those of genius - his ringing words still echo.

Evelyn Waugh, a convert himself, tells a story as good as any fiction but far more compelling and sobering because of the true biography that it is.

If there is a fault to this book, it is that it is too short. Waugh writes this work of history as one would a novel. However, there is plenty of historical detail. Nonetheless, in an effort to make the book more readable, Waugh has left out the footnotes and endnotes.

That being said, it is probably the best book we presently have on St. Edmund Campion. Edmund Campion was well known amongst Elizabethan circles, including Queen Elizabeth herself. He was lauded for his intelligence and wit and no one could match him in debate.

Edmund gave up what looked like a promising career in academics to become a Catholic. He studied at the College at Douai and became a Jesuit. However, at this time, it was like trading one acadamic pursuit for another.

Edmund was doing quite well at a professorship in Prague when he was called to go to England to minister to the Catholics who had not forgotten their faith. He was not sent as a spy but as a minister to the faithful.

This Edmund did. He did it so well, traveling about in disguise, that he eluded capture for some time. In the end, Edmund comes to a martyr's death (I leave it to Waugh to explain the details).

I judge a book, mainly, on whether I have attained anything good from its contents. Waugh's telling of the story of Edmund Campion has moved me. St. Edmund Campion died as did Christ, asking the forgiveness the very men who were to so cruelly slay him in front of a jeering public.

I'm very pleased I was able to find a copy of this book for my library. Most importantly, I'm very happy that I was able to learn something about this great saint. Your effort to do the same will be well worth it.

Waugh's details of Campion's European whereabouts gets a bit tedious but once Campion returns to England you can't put the book down. Waugh leaves you thinking which queen rightfully deserves the adjective Bloody.