Warren Carroll's a history of Christendom?

[StJoseph8]

I’ve been really interested in getting Warren Carroll’s a history of Christendom. reviews from Amazon say it’s really good the only thing is is that there was a one-star review that was highly critical of it. Have any of you read his first volume? Is it a good resource of history for a faithful Catholic?

 

[tafan]

I consider the first volume an very, very good book. It is a great read, gives a very good view of world history. And then it serves as a good reference book after you read it.

The volumes 2-4 are also very good, albeit a little more dry in places.
Volume 5 and 6 are not quite as good, unfortunately reflecting the author’s declining health. But that’s just my opinion.

Certainly read the first volume

 

[louisak]

I enjoyed the first volume very much. It gives an overview of the history of humanity from Adam and Eve down to the emperor Constantine and the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire. I especially appreciated the fact that he shows what was happening in the history of Israel at a given point in time, and then contrasts that with looking at the religious and cultural development of other societies at the same time.

The second volume I couldn’t really get into. It’s hard to explain why my reaction was so different. My biggest complaint is that the chapters don’t have subdivisions, so there are no logical places to take a break within a chapter. The effect for me is to produce a sort of mental fatigue… it just wears me out.

Also, the second volume goes in detail into the crises of the early Church such as Arianism… if you’re not already familiar with the details of those episodes, it’s pretty shocking and makes for a downbeat reading experience. I wish he could have provided more variety by also showing other things that were going on in the Church at the same time. It’s as if he was only interested in focusing on the scandals and outrages.

 

[texasag7599]

I’ll echo what everyone else said. That first volume is sheer brilliance. Volume 2 gets a little bogged down in the massive amount of characters during the early middle ages, volume 3 and four are very good, 5 is mostly collected works from his other books on the French Revolution but it is an excellent read, and 6 was mainly compiled by his wife who carried on his work after his death.

All in all I would recommend highly but be warned that it can be a little exhausting.