I bought this book at the same time as the new one volume Butler's Lives of the Saints, edited by Paul Burns. McBrien's book is certainly well researched and inclusive in terms of gender, race, class, and denomination. However the entries are focussed more on biographical information than the spirit or charism of each saint. You will know when they lived and what they did but not how they thought, felt, and prayed. Butler's Lives of the Saints is equally well researched, and just as inclusive (without being self-righteous about it, as McBrien tends to be), but you also get a sense of the spirituality of the saints, which is the whole point of reading about them. McBrien's material about Pope JP II's mania for beatification/canonization is interesting, but better to read it at your local library and spend your money on the new Butler's Lives of the Saints.

This book should be carefully avoided. It has a modernist bias and seems to almost criticize the Church's holy saints. A perfect example is the passage on St. Louis Grignion de Montfort and his treatise on the Virgin Mary "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin", which according to the author, "waned considerably in influence after Vatican II, when emphasis was placed more on Jesus and the Bible". Pope John Paul II has used De Montfort's motto "Totus Tuus" throughout his pontificate, not to mention the fact that "True Devotion" is interlaced with exhaustive scripture quotes and references, from both the Old and New Testaments. "Lives of the Saints" is not a Catholic book; I don't know what it is, but don't line a birdcage with it. Don't buy this book, but do pray for the author!!!!!