Frank J. Coppa Libri

The book delves into the challenges faced by the Catholic Church during the transformative periods of the French and Industrial Revolutions, highlighting the tension between traditional religious authority and emerging secularism. It examines the Vatican's political and diplomatic responses over the past two centuries, addressing its influence on key ideologies such as capitalism, nationalism, and socialism. Additionally, it explores the evolution of church-state relations and the interplay between religion and science, providing a comprehensive view of the papacy's adaptation to a modernizing world.

Dictators are not new phenomena, but within the past two centuries they have dramatically proliferated not only in Europe, which witnessed the rise and fall of fascism and communism, but also in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where military as well as ideological dictators have emerged. This concise one-volume encyclopedia provides entries on most if not all of the dictators who have emerged worldwide since the time of Napoleon. Arranged in an A-Z format, these entries provide the basic facts on the formation and development of the dictatorships as well as references for further reading. The volume will prove indispensable to high school and college students as well as librarians wanting to know more about these individuals, many of whom are not included in the older biographical studies.Dictators discussed Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Ferdinand Marcos, Napoleon Bonaparte, Maximilien Robespierre, Antonio de Salazar, Slobodan Milosevich, Muammar al Quaddafi, Josef Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, Juan Perón, Manuel Noriega, Fulgencio Battista, Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler, and many more. Over thirty dramatic photos and a comprehensive index are included.

The life and pontificate of Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, are explored in depth, highlighting his traditionalism and legalism amidst a turbulent period. The book provides a balanced account, examining his responses to modernity and reform within the Church and society. While it addresses the controversial topic of his silence during the Holocaust, it does so within a historical and objective context, focusing more on the influences that shaped his policies and actions throughout his tenure.

The book provides a comprehensive historical account of the complex relationship between the papacy and the Jewish community, particularly in the modern age. It addresses the contentious debates surrounding Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust and the broader implications of clerical anti-Judaism versus secular anti-Semitism. Author Frank J. Coppa navigates the intricate dynamics of these issues, emphasizing that historical developments are influenced by multiple factors rather than a singular cause, thereby offering a nuanced perspective on the Vatican's response to anti-Semitism.

The Policies and Politics of Pope Pius XII delves into the diplomacy of the most controversial pope of the twentieth century: Pius XII (pontificate, 1939-1958), «Advocate of Appeasement» to some and «Apostle of Peace» to others. Disagreement prevails on his quest for peace, recourse to impartiality during the Second World War, and relative public silence during the Holocaust. His abandonment of impartiality to play a prominent role in the Cold War has contributed to the charges and counter-charges leading to what has been deemed the «Pius War.» Unfortunately, a good deal of the literature published by the defenders and denigrators of this papal diplomacy has shed more heat than light. In this book, Frank J. Coppa, who has written on numerous controversial figures including Pius IX (pontificate,1846-1878), seeks to objectively explore the origins and rationale of Pius XII's diplomacy during the war, the Nazi genocide, and its aftermath.