Biographies

Famous Men of Greece

Book cover: Famous Men of Greece
Author(s): 
John H. Haaren
A.B. Poland
Memoria Press (editor)

Like Famous Men of Rome, Famous Men of Greece introduces ancient history in the manner of Plutarch, by means of thirty-one short (4-5 page) biographies of the great men of Ancient Greece. It begins back at the point where history merges with legend, and ends with the fall of Greece to Rome in 146 B.C.

A Life of Our Lord for Children

Book cover: A Life of Our Lord for Children
Author(s): 
Marigold Hunt
Illustrator(s): 
Ted Schluenderfritz

Sophia Institute Press has reprinted another gem! In an easy conversational manner, Marigold Hunt tells the story of the Life of Christ. She begins by spending one chapter on the time before Christ, the promise, and the prophets. Then she tells of his birth and young life, his preaching and miracles, and his death and resurrection. The last chapter, His Kingdom is the Church, tells of the Pentecost.

Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Rome

Book cover: Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Rome
Author(s): 
Cynthia Shearer

The Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Rome is an optional supplement for the book. It includes, for each lesson, a vocabulary list and several discussion questions designed to bring out the key points of each biography through a Christian (biblical) perspective. The discussion questions are excellent narration starters and really do help bring out the theme that "individual people and their actions have a significant effect on history".

Famous Men of Rome

Book cover: 'Famous Men of Rome'
Author(s): 
John Haaren
A.B. Poland
Our first year of homeschooling we used a dry textbook for American history. Well, we didn't really use it - we put it off as much as possible and the year passed with only the first few chapters read.

Our second year of homeschooling, we discovered Greenleaf's Famous Men series (through enrolling in the Kolbe Academy Home Study program). What a difference! It was our first exposure to literature-based history study, and the idea of studying time periods through "real books" was a formative one in our homeschool.

The Wolfling

Book cover: The Wolfling, A Documentary Novel of the Eighteen-Seventies
Author(s): 
Sterling North
Illustrator(s): 
John Schoenherr

Wolfling is the follow up to Sterling North's Newbery Honor book Rascal. The two are loosely related in that they both take place in the wilderness of Wisconsin. Rascal is largely an autobiography of North's unusual childhood in Wisconsin in the early part of the 20th century while Wolfling takes place in the time that North's father was a boy soon after the Civil War. It is based on the letters that he sent North about his childhood.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Missionary of Charity

Book cover: Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Missionary of Charity
Author(s): 
Mary Kathleen Glavich, S.N.D.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta is the story of her life simply told for children. Although it is a children's book, it covers enough material for even an adult to have a greater appreciation of her life. Written as a short chapter book with a few illustrations sprinkled throughout the book, it begins with her childhood in Albania and follows her decision to become a missionary and join the Loreto sisters, and continues after her dramatic step to serve the poorest of the poor without any financial backer. This is a true lesson in trusting in God's Divine Providence.

Saint Thomas More of London

Book cover: Saint Thomas More of London
Author(s): 
Elizabeth Ince

An interesting and readable life of Thomas More (1477-1535): the great saint, scholar, father, lawyer, statesman, author, patriot and lover of the Church. The author, a descendant of Thomas More, has included many interesting details and anecdotes that bring this great man to life and help us better understand who he was. Even as an adult who became interested in St. Thomas More from the movie A Man for All Seasons, I found many tidbits that helped fill in the details not present in the movie – particularly regarding More's life before he became Chancellor of England.

Giant of the Western Trail

Book cover: 'Giant of the Western Trail'
Author(s): 
Rev. Michael McHugh, S.J.

Pierre-Jean De Smet (1801-1873) was a beloved missionary in the American West who brought the Gospels and the Catholic Faith to many Indians as well as fighting for peace and justice for the Indians and those suffering from the Civil War. A substantial figure in American history, many may remember from the Little House Books that the city in South Dakota that the Ingalls settled in was named after this renowned priest.

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine

Book cover: Galen and the Gateway to Medicine
Author(s): 
Jeanne Bendick

Jeanne Bendick's second title in Bethlehem Books' "Living History" series (after Archimedes and the Door of Science) brings to life the 2nd century (A.D.) Roman doctor whose work in learning to understand the human body became the standard authority on human physiology for over a thousand years. Although many of his theories were corrected through advancements in science since the middle ages, his story is interesting both for its own sake and for the light is sheds on Roman history and culture and the Hippocratic tradition of medicine.

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