This is the sixth and final volume by Dr. Warren H. Carroll on the history of Christendom. It is concerned with the “crises” of the modern era, the turning points in the diseases which plagued humanity during these two centuries. The book discusses in detail Nazi and Japanese militarism and its crisis in World War II, the damage caused by the inhuman system of Communism and its fall in 1989, and the origins and consequences of the denial of the dignity of the human person in the modern culture of death. Carroll shows the power of evil in the twentieth century, but focuses also on the great popes, in particular Pope John Paul II, and the great apparitions of the Marian Century. He ends with a call to hope and action. In the words of Anne Carroll, “It would be Dr. Carroll’s wish that each reader of this volume would work to build the culture of life in whatever sphere he can, standing with and for the See of Peter and the Holy Catholic Church.”

As did earlier volumes in this sweeping series, The Crisis of Christendom reflects an unabashedly Christian and Catholic view of history, taking as one of its major themes the centrality of the Papacy to the destiny of the West. Dr. Carroll holds that God and individual men and women, not impersonal social and economic “forces,” make history. The characters and actions of these history-makers, both good and evil, are vividly depicted as essential elements in the triumphs and tragedies of Christian civilization in Europe and the New World for two centuries (1815—2010).

Both a gripping, dramatic narrative and an indispensable work of reference for Christian history, this volume, and the entire series of which it is a part, belong in the library of every serious Catholic who desires to understand the work that Christ has done in the world through His Church and His faithful people.