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Book Review of Third Time Around: The History of the Pro-Life Movement from the First Century to the Present

sarah5775 avatar reviewed on + 386 more book reviews


I couldn't read this book. The author has a lot of good, interesting historical detail- he talked about a lot of people who were pro-life in antiquity, but his religious fanaticism really turned me off. Basically, according to him, all Christians are good and all non-Christians are bad. The Middle Ages were great because the church ruled everything and everyone was Christian, the Renaissance and Enlightenment were bad because Europe moved away from Jesus and into "humanism." Forget all you heard about the Crusades and the Inquisition and the slaughter of Jews and non-Christians in the Middle Ages, forget all you heard about the great art and scientific advances of the Renaissance. The author clearly wants to go back to the Middle Ages where the Church ruled everything and no one could disagree. He is a true religious fanatic. I am pro-life but nonreligious and was very turned off and even offended by this book...apparently only Christians can be "real" pro-lifers. This was really awful. It had good historical detail but I couln't finish it due to the author's incredible narrow mindedness and bias.

I tried to read his other book Grand Illusions and couldn't finish that one for the same reason. I should have remembered what this guy was like before I spent ten dollars on Amazon for this book.

If you can stomach this guy you may find interesting historical accounts in here- stories of early Christians who stood up for the unborn and their mothers. It reads like a Christian history book, but with too much religious rhetoric and intolerance for me.