Christ the King: Lord of History

by Anne Carroll

Here is a fast paced, highly readable and interesting Catholic world history. It clearly illustrates that Christ is the central figure in all of history. Unabashedly proud of our brilliant Catholic heritage, Dr Carroll examines all historical developments from the point of view of the Church and the enhancement or decline of the influence of the Church upon the historical scene. Whereas most secular histories written today give but a grudging acknowledgment to the role of the Catholic Church in forming Western and therefore modern civilization, this book makes the role of Christ and the contribution of His Church unquestionable. A great book for students, parents, history buffs and educators.

Genres: History, Catholic, Nonfiction, Religion, Faith, Education, Historical

474 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

Reviews

[Miss Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Filled with inaccurracies, amid a very biased view of history, I did not like this book. I have no problems with the Catholic emphasis. What I take issue with is that Anne Carroll seems to feel that no Catholic can be portrayed as in the wrong and that most, read Isabel and the Habsburgs, were saints from infancy. She writes as if she had special insight into their thoughts and motivation. And while, yes, many rulers did make choices that benefited Christendom, very few were utterly altruistic.

Still, taken with a number of other histories and supplemental materials, this could be of benefit as a book, if it is clearly seen where it is weak and flawed and where it gets things right.

[Clare D' Lune · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sad to say that I really didn't enjoy this book. I found her way of explaining things dull, and I thought it was very hard to get through, especially since we had it as a history book for school and a huge book of questions to go along with it... I felt like she was just re-explaining things I already knew, and she never really talked about one important thing. The lessons were very long, but she barely skimmed over the facts of each subject...

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best history books I have ever read!It basically got me though this year of school! I just love it! It was a nice change to read about European history from American.I actually enjoyed doing the school work for it! I recommend this to all who like history!

[Justin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book at the recommendation of someone from my church. It's supposed to be a world history from the perspective of Catholicism with Christ as the center of historical progression--which I thought was an interesting idea. But no, this book is terrrrrrible. It's pure propaganda. It's like something written in Soviet Russia. I can understand that writing from a declared point of view necessitates a bias and obvious emphases and opinions, but this book is unfairly dismissive of anything that doesn't fit its ultra-conservative Catholic agenda.

There are plenty of examples, but my favorite is how it describes Joseph McCarthy as a hero who was victimized by liberals and his "enemies" in the government. Poor, poor Joe, he was right--everyone just turned against him. The author describes the high middle ages as "the greatest century in history"!(!!!!) Another thing she does is gives inaccurate, opinionated definitions of major historical concepts. She describes Communism and capitalism as inherently evil and calls Middle Ages Feudalism a fair and Christian "distributism." Come on, someone studying history (especially high school kids, to whom this book is directed) needs direct, legitimate definitions of these words before they can make a real evaluation of history. The thing is, apparently the author doesn't want them to make a real evaluation of history. She wants to brainwash them.

It stinks, too, because if the idea of this book were done by a legitimate historian in a legitimate way, it could be very interesting.

[Sylvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

the painting on the front cover made four very good bookmarks.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never did like history in school and I wished I had read this book then. I love history now and my Catholic faith.
Carroll has highlighted the significance of how the birth of Christ is central to all the events that happened before and after Christ's birth. One will better understand the reason for Christendom's rise and fall. It's so well written depicting every event of Christian history that you would like to reread it often as I have already done twice. A book that's actually meant for high school students as a textbook but anyone with interest in Christian history will enjoy it thoroughly.

Highly recommended to those who didn't like history in school.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent if flawed history primer from a Catholic perspective. Carroll’s biggest failing is glossing over some of her most important points while digging into battle progress reports that would be standard material in other books. Tackling common criticisms along the way while stumbling into apologetic terms, she nonetheless presents a portrait of history that stands in stark contrast to the mainstream narrative and explains much of what is wrong with it and the modern world as a result. This is not the kind of book that will convince someone to rethink their views (Rodney Stark’s Reclaiming History does a much better job of that, even if its scope is much more limited), but for Catholics, it’s a great way to revisit the past fully in context. Written for middle school students (and apparently also used in high school), it’s solid foundational material.

[Abby (Reader of Clean Books)]

I'll be coming back to this next school year. So far, it's my favorite history book yet.

[PG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book which was somewhat enjoyable to read. I liked that it gave a Catholic perspective to the history of the world and I enjoyed the interjections of Catholic theology. What I didn't like was the inconsistency of the writing. Some of the book would read like a textbook and then it would switch to a descriptive scene like from a novel. When this would happen, it was jarring and kind of took me out of the book. I also thought she sometimes phrased things a little weirdly which made the reader read a paragraph a few times before it was understood. While I don't know a better way to have done it, the way the timeline of this book worked was a little weird (like you would be reading about 1000's France, and the next chapter would be 300's, Spain; not a actual example, just an idea of the time jumps she would do). The last thing I didn't like were some of her defenses of the Catholic Church (I thought they were somewhat weak).

I have also heard people say that this book contains fictious accounts, but I don't know if that is true. Because I don't know if true, that won't effect my overall rating of the book.

Overall, I thought it was an interesting book and would reccomend if you want a history course with a Catholic PoV.

[Catherine John · Rating 1 out of 5]

this might actually be the worst book I've read - it is comparable to a book in Chinese but written in numbers.

[Macy Vollert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book EVER

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is kinda bias as a catholic i think it was unfair how you call Hindu bad, or don’t know the real truth. Just because they don’t have the same views as Christians doesn’t mean they are bad. Like Yes the caste system is bad and etc but that doesn’t mean the Church also is purely good. Smh also how this book compares everything to the Israelites like how it says the Greeks were able to win a war just like the israelites who were guided by God and then when the greek philosophers don’t have the same ideology as Christians or Israelites, it will say they know less of them. No it doesn’t mean they don’t know less it just means everyoen is different...

[Peter]

I had high hopes when I began reading this book, but found it inaccurate, poorly written and severely lacking in sources. It was a huge disappointment.

[Nina]

it was so hard to learn anything from this book haha

[Andy Lind · Rating 3 out of 5]

POSITIVES: The book gives us a brief history of The Catholic Church that goes all the way up to the 1960's. It shows us just how powerful a nation France once was and how it influenced the modern world. It also highlights some of the major Saints in Catholic history, who made the most impact on The Catholic Church.

NEGATIVES: It paints Muslims in a pretty bad light. It only mentions the bad popes in a sentence or two. It also only mentions one or two extremely one-sided viewpoints about modern big Catholic Church events such as Fatima and Vatican 2.

[Tammy Schilling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my teen for his history class and it was really great. It's an overview, so doesn't go deep on anything, but covers tons that is left out of other history books. Absolutely one of my favorites.

[Jhepoy · Rating 1 out of 5]

the amount of times i wanted to rip the pages off with my teeth while reading this! wildly biased and just pure catholic indoctrination

[Matt The Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

I basically finished🥴

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

While intended as a high school textbook, it is an excellent one volume history from a Catholic viewpoint, covering not just events and people but also the ideas that influenced history. Unfortunately, the final few pages covering Vatican II and the post-conciliar popes are misleading, suggesting that the council documents were not actually at fault for the destruction that followed (see I Accuse the Council and Religious Liberty by Fr. Pierre-Marice).

[Ruby Nazaruk · Rating 5 out of 5]

started on the first of March 2012
finished December 17th 2012