Journal of Modern History - Paul F. Grendler
This is a major study of the first crucial years of one of the most important institutions of modern Europe. Perhaps the price of the impact of the Society of Jesus is that both hagiographical and demonic myths have encrusted its early history. This learned and eloquent study scrapes away those myths in order to tell the complex, almost improvisational history of the first twenty-five years of the Society of Jesus… No study in any language provides such an authoritative and fascinating picture.
The Way - Philip Endean
A magnificent achievement both of synthesis and interpretation.
Peter Hebblethwaite
Neither fazed nor overwhelmed, Father O’Malley never loses sight of the forest among the myriad trees… In this book three tenacious myths bite the dust. The first is that Ignatius had a detailed blueprint for his companions… A second myth is that the Jesuits were founded to combat the Reformation and to spearhead its Roman Catholic riposte, the Counter-Reformation… The third myth is that the Jesuits were founded as the pope’s shock troops… Far from being a simple chronicle, it is an account of how the Jesuits, led by the internal dynamism of the Holy Spirit, responded to unpredictable events and new needs.
John Padberg
This is surely the best book ever written in English on the first Jesuits and the early Society of Jesus. It may well be the best book on that topic ever written in any language. This is a work that is deeply original, always clear, often brilliant.
New York Review of Books - Anthony Grafton
A masterly account of the first generation [of Jesuits]…carried out with an economy and insight that compel admiration.
The Way
A magnificent achievement both of synthesis and interpretation.
— Philip Endean, SJ
Journal of Modern History
This is a major study of the first crucial years of one of the most important institutions of modern Europe. Perhaps the price of the impact of the Society of Jesus is that both hagiographical and demonic myths have encrusted its early history. This learned and eloquent study scrapes away those myths in order to tell the complex, almost improvisational history of the first twenty-five years of the Society of Jesus...No study in any language provides such an authoritative and fascinating picture.
— Paul F. Grendler
America
This is surely the best book ever written in English on the first Jesuits and the early Society of Jesus. It may well be the best book on that topic ever written in any language. This is a work that is deeply original, always clear, often brilliant.
— John Padberg
New York Review of Books
A masterly account of the first generation [of Jesuits]...carried out with an economy and insight that compel admiration.
— Anthony Grafton
New York Times Book Review
Neither fazed nor overwhelmed, Father O'Malley never loses sight of the forest among the myriad trees...In this book three tenacious myths bite the dust. The first is that Ignatius had a detailed blueprint for his companions...A second myth is that the Jesuits were founded to combat the Reformation and to spearhead its Roman Catholic riposte, the Counter-Reformation...The third myth is that the Jesuits were founded as the pope's shock troops...Far from being a simple chronicle, it is an account of how the Jesuits, led by the internal dynamism of the Holy Spirit, responded to unpredictable events and new needs.
— Peter Hebblethwaite
