Can the Catholic Church be reconciled with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization? An adequate response to such a question can only be given if we understand what modern civilization is, what the Church is, and what the results of various approaches of the later to the former have been. John Rao's wide ranging and profound writings are indispensable for coming to such an understanding. —Pater Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist., lecturer in moral theology, Heiligenkreuz, Austria

Soon after I first met John Rao, a highly respected priest commented to me that Dr. Rao was a man completely emancipated from the assumptions of Modernism and Americanism. Over the past decade or so that I’ve come to know him, I have found this remark to be entirely true. As this excellent volume reveals, Dr. Rao possesses a profoundly Catholic mind, steeped in history—all the more important in an age of civilisational amnesia, when debates corrupt into competing abstractions, unanchored from the historical process by which God’s salvation of mankind unfolds. In this work, Dr. Rao takes us on a journey through the dramas and controversies of Christendom’s history, and by so doing he roots us in the history that is ours, for which reason we are profoundly indebted to him. —Sebastian Morello, author of The World as God’s Icon and Conservatism and Grace: The Conservative Case for Religion by Establishment

Professor Rao's learning, devotion to history, love of the Faith, eye for telling incident, and vivid writing are all on display in his multifaceted presentation of the struggles of the Church in the modern world. Readers will deepen their understanding of the current state of the Church, how it came about, its deep background, and how it can be bettered. —James Kalb, lawyer, writer, and Catholic convert

Dr. John Rao is an extraordinary figure within the contemporary traditionalist movement. This is due to the fact that he is someone who cultivates history philosophically. It is what allows him to evade the all too frequent errors of leniency, conservatism, and Americanism. Moreover, he is not only a profound intellectual but also an enthusiastic and effective systematizer of ideas. —Miguel Ayuso, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science and Constitutional Law, Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid

Those who know him have long recognized that John Rao has an encyclopedic knowledge of European civilization and the history of Christendom, which he wears lightly. This new, welcome collection of essays, however, will finally introduce him to a new generation of readers. His intricate knowledge of episodes and events, people and places — which ranges from the Baroque spirit in Spain, to resistance to Garibaldi's revolutionary troops in Italy, to the challenges of the modern papacy — are sure to educate, enthrall, and inspire readers everywhere. —Alvino-Mario Fantini, editor-in-chief, The European Conservative, and director of the Centre Européen de Documentation et d'Information