FRANCIS of ASSISI (The Great Courses)(audiobook) by William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman

 



The idea behind The Great Courses is a simple one - take a college lecture course given by an expert that knows how to give an interesting lecture and package it up as an audiobook that anyone can listen to.

In the case of this audiobook, there are two college professors that have a great chemistry together and really enjoy a discussion of St. Francis.

Before this audiobook, I knew only the barest of details of St. Francis so I found the entire discussion interesting and informative.

I do have a rather big complaint about the way the information was presented, however. They start with a biography of St. Francis up until the moment when he becomes recognized by the Pope and his movement is up and going. From that moment, they move to a thematic presentation and the listener hears about moments in his life that are not tied to any sort of biography. 

For example, they mention more than once that he participated in a crusade as a bystander and as a person that wanted to reach out to the Muslims that were defending, but there is no coherent narrative to that story that makes it more than just a few random snatches of extremely interesting information and teachings. I do not like the fact that I listened to a six hour audiobook about the life of a person and I do not have a grasp of many of the basics about the life of that person. As a fellow teacher of history, I cannot imagine the thought process that went into that decision.

Fortunately, they provided an interesting list of books or presentations written by other, well-known authors such as W.E.B DuBois and G.K. Chesterton.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found here: FRANCIS of ASSISI (The Great Courses)(audiobook) by William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts over the last 30 days

STAR-SPANGLED JESUS: LEAVING CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM and FINDING a TRUE FAITH (audiobook) by April Ajoy

Image
Published in October of 2024 by Worthy Books. Read by the author, April Ajoy. Duration: 8 hours, 4 minutes. Unabridged. Star-Spangled Jesus is the story of April Ajoy and her spiritual evolution since the political appearance of Donald Trump in 2015-2016.  Is it weird that a politician caused a spiritual evolution?  No, not in a world of Christian Nationalism. For the most basic definition, I am going to say that it is a belief that a person can't truly be an American if they aren't Christian and their rights as an American should reflect that. Also, this is precisely what happened to me, so I get it. Trump shocked me out of the Republican = Good Christian mindset because of the simple reason that he is so overtly antithetical to so many Christian ideals and is proud of it. If the previous paragraph offends or confuses you, you will hate this book.  Ajoy's pre-2015 Christian experience was much more conservative than mine and more intense. Her father was a conservative p...
Read more

USHERS (short story) by Joe Hill

Image
Published by Amazon Original Stories on November 1, 2024. Synopsis: In Ushers , Martin Lorensen is being questioned by two federal agents that have noticed that he almost died twice in two mass casualty incidents. One was a school shooting that primarily took place in the classroom he shared with the shooter when he was in high school. He got to school that day, but turned around and went home when he got to the front doors - just a few minutes before the shooting started. The other was a tremendous train crash - he almost got onto the train - he was at the station with ticket in hand and walked away after telling a girl and her mom to not get on the train. The federal agents are curious. Is he some sort of terrorist that sets up mass casualty events? Or, is he the luckiest man on the East Coast? My review: This is a well-told short story with an ending  that would have been a welcome addition to the Rod Serling's old Twilight Zone series. I rate this story 5 stars out of 5. It can...
Read more

SUPERMAN SMASHES the KLAN (graphic novel) by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru

Image
Winner of Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, 2021. Winner of Harvey Award for Best Children or Young Adult Book. Published by DC Comics in 2020. Story by Gene Luen Yang. Art by Gurihiru. Superman Smashes the Klan is a graphic novel interpretation of a story arc from the old Superman radio show. At that time, Superman was the most popular radio show for children in the United States and the show's writers wanted to address racism with their young listeners. They wrote six 15 minute episodes with Superman opposing the racists of the Clan of the Fiery Cross. This was a big risk. They were worried that it would turn off their fans since 1946 America was a very racist place. The actual Klan was experiencing a moment of resurgence. Superman had only been published for 8 years at the time - he was very new and his young fans and their families could reject this move into current day politics. Turns out that the kids loved it. Ratings increased! Follow this link for another review on this...
Read more

SWITCHBACK: A PATRICK FLINT NOVEL (audiobook) by Pamala Fagan Hutchins

Image
Published in 2019 by Pamala Fagan Hutchins. Read by the author, Pamala Fagan Hutchins. Duration: 7 hours, 56 minutes. Unabridged. My synopsis: It is 1976 and E.R. Doctor Patrick Flint wants to take his family on a week-long family camping and hunting trip on horseback. He is keenly aware that his teen children are getting older and they won't have too many more opportunities to go on adventures around their Wyoming home. But, things are starting to unravel. His wife decides she doesn't want to go at the last minute. His daughter is complaining because she'll be out in the mountains and away from the boy she is interested in.  So, the family separates for the week and that's when things start to go bad - and once things start to go bad in this book they just don't stop. My review: The basic outlines of Switchback are quite good, especially for the first book in a series. There's a decent amount of world building and the choice to set the book in 1976 removes all...
Read more

SIN MIEDO: LECCIONES de REBELDES (en español) by Jorge Ramos)

Image
Published by Celebra in 2016. In Sin Miedo: Lecciones de Rebeldes , Jorge Ramos brings us stories of people that he has interviewed over the years that he considers to be rebels with lessons to offer to all of us. The title can be translated as Fearless: Lessons from Rebels . Some really are literal rebels, some are rebels that became dictators (he has 4 of these), and some are people that really aren't rebels, but are very successful in areas where people like them are not normally successful. If you don't know who Jorge Ramos is, you probably don't watch Univision TV very much. Univision is a Spanish language channel based in Miami and Ramos is their most recognizable news anchor.  The interviewees range all over the place, including Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Fidel Castro, Barbara Walters, George W. Bush, Daniel Ortega, former Presidents of Mexico, two Venezuelan dictators, a Mexican revolutionary leader, Spike Lee, and Richard Branson. Some of the interviews are pretty c...
Read more

SING DOWN the MOON by Scott O'Dell

Image
Originally published in 1970. Named a Newberry Honor Book in 1971. Set in the New Mexico and Arizona territories in 1863-1865, Sing Down the Moon is the story of a teenaged Navajo girl named Bright Morning.  Despite the fact that the American Civil War is raging in the East, this is a tough time for the Navajo. There are pressures from the people they call Spaniards who raid the Navajo and other Native Americans in search of slaves (undoubtedly the "Spaniards" were Spanish-speaking Mexicans that were living in the territory before Mexico lost it to the United States at the end of the Mexican War in 1848.) But, that's not the worst of it. In 1864, the U.S. military under Kit Carson (called Long Knives in this book) rounded up all of the Navajo and put them in a concentration camp called Bosque Redondo. The Navajo in the book are unsure as to why they were forced to come to the camp, but the ongoing threat of Confederate raids into Arizona and New Mexico had a lot to do wi...
Read more

THE HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS (graphic novel) by Max Brooks.

Image
Published by Del Rey in 2014. Illustrated by Caanan White. Synopsis: The Harlem Hellfighters is Max Brooks' history of an all African American unit (the 369th Infantry) that fought on the Western Front alongside French units. They mostly came from New York. This unit was allowed to fight precisely because they were assigned to a mostly French army. The American army would not let African Americans fight and had originally used the 369th as laborers, alongside civilian laborers. The French were in need of immediate manpower. French white soldiers already had experience fight alongside regiments of soldiers from their African colonies and were eager to bring American troops to the front, no matter their color. The 369th spent more time than almost any other American unit on the front lines. They may have spent the most time on the front lines. They were the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine River.  Legend has it that the nickname "The Harlem Hellfighters" was given to t...
Read more

Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody by David L. Lander

Image
      A great read Published in 2000 by Tarcher. As a kid, I always thought of Lenny and Squiggy as the two dolts that live upstairs from Laverne and Shirley. I've been watching the DVD collections of the show with my kids and I've noticed something. Usually, I grade papers when I watch TV (one of the perks, lots of papers!) and I find myself listening to Laverne and Shirley, but I stop and WATCH Lenny and Squiggy. Squiggy, in particular, is in constant motion and always doing something weird/quirky/downright odd and inappropriate! Squiggy So, I was inspired to go out and find Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody and read more about Lander's struggle with MS. Plus, it's always interesting to see how someone made it to the big time. Both parts of the book are interesting and a pleasure to read. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and blasted through the book in no time. Landers' stories about his early career, how he...
Read more

YOUR JESUS IS TOO AMERICAN: CALLING the CHURCH to RECLAIM KINGDOM VALUES over the AMERICAN DREAM (audiobook) by Steve Bezner

Image
Published in October of 2024 by eChristian. Read by James R. Cheatham. Duration: 7 hours, 28 minutes. Unabridged. Have you ever listened to someone speak, agreed wholeheartedly with almost everything the person said, but still felt underwhelmed by the presentation? That's where I am with this book. Bezner is the pastor of a church in Houston and he discusses how the church needs to stop being a cheerleader for both America and Jesus. Oftentimes, America comes first - especially as churches make political power a priority.  As the title says, Bezner says the church has to return to honoring Kingdom Values over American Values. Bezner is not anti-American, but he does not that American popular culture and American political do not really align with Kingdom Values - and that should be the goal. He goes on to tell about things he's done wrong in this area of his ministry and things that he believes are working out well now. Like I said at the outset, I liked what Bezner had to say,...
Read more

Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate by Rick Bowers

Image
A Dual Biography of Sorts Published by National Geographic in 2012. Note: This is a YA book aimed at 5th graders and above. This adult enjoyed the book also. From time to time the dual biography comes back into vogue. Dual biographies are a great way to compare and contrast two people's lives and, in this case, this style is used to compare and contrast two different organizations: The Ku Klux Klan and Superman, Inc. and see how these two radically different groups interacted. There is, of course, so such thing as Superman, Inc. - I made that up. Superman is owned by D.C. Comics, but there are people who make all sorts of decisions on how to present Superman. What will he stand for and stand against? What will the next comic be like? How about the next movie? Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan   tells the story of the creation of Superman (and the two young Jewish boys from Ohio who created him) and how Superman quickly caught on once a publisher finally took him on in 1938. ...
Read more