Books by Peter Stanford
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Published in London and New York by Continuum in June 2011. ISBN 9781441183033 Also available in Kindle format.
A collection of 12 essays, edited by Peter Stanford, with an afterword by Dorothy Rowe, and written by the parents and siblings of children who have died. By reliving their experiences and describing their grief, they hope to help others in the same situation, as well as their family and friends.
'the collection provides our pain-denying culture with a new map of mourning' : TLS ''a painful but necessary book': Catholic Herald It is a brilliant book on a potentially harrowing topic...it will undoubtedly meet a great need, thanks to the honesty, sensitivity and courage of the contributors who dare to write about such intimate pain: Jenny Francis in the Church Times 'I am loathe to pick one story out from among the others for fear of seeming to denigrate others. All are written with deep love and recognition that life will never be the same again': the goodbookstall.org.uk TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by Quercus in May 2010 and in New York by Chartwell in June 2010. ISBN 9781848660595 Separate editions in Dutch (Veen Magazines ISBN 9789085713319), French (Dunod ISBN 9782100549856), Spanish (Ariel ISBN 9788434469471) and German (Spektrum-Akademischer ISBN 9783827426383).
At a time when religion stands accused of dividing the world and causing conflict, an everyman's overview of the great faiths, how they evolved, their key beliefs, what they have in common with each other, what separates them, and how they relate to the modern world. 'Nifty and not too preachy' : The Sowetan (South Africa) TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London and New York by Continuum in March 2010. Hardback ISBN 9780826434043 Paperback 9781441167354 A Kindle edition comes out Spring 2011 A modern-day pilgrimage round eight of Britain's ancient religious sites, taking the spiritual temperature of our apparently secular and sceptical age. 'While Stanford takes quiet pleasure in unpicking woolly thinking, he writes movingly about the pull of the past, recognising that in hard times, the path of enlightenment becomes an appealing road-trip.' Victoria Segal: The Guardian 'Stanford's delightful book is more an encounter with pilgrims than with Christ and his saints...these frequently difficult travels tell one more about today's religious faith than many a church report...It is a pleasure to tramp along beside him.' Ronald Blythe: Church Times 'a highly illuminating study...his selection may be domestic but it is by no means parochial...Particularly welcome is his ability to laugh at himself.' Michael Arditti: The Independent
TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in New York by Quercus in October 2009 Only available at present through Borders bookshops in the United States. Planned publication to follow in the UK in 2011. A large format biography of Jesus Christ, told both in words and pictures, with sumptuous colour illustrations of over 100 of the author's favourite paintings and artworks. With a foreword by the distinguished British historian of religion, Karen Armstrong. |
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Published in London and New York by Continuum in May 2007. ISBN: UK hardback 978-0-8264-8603-5 The first authorized account of the life of the Anglo-Irish Poet Laureate, C Day-Lewis (1904-1972) who, along with WH Auden and Stephen Spender, is best remembered as one of the 'Poets of the Thirties'. 'shrewd, conscientious...Stanford is careful not to sound censorious. His book is all the better for this. It allows us to see Day-Lewis's charm as well as his calculation.' Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, in choosing the book as Guardian Book of the Week 'It is Stanford's huge accomplishment in this excellent biography that he gives due weight to all aspects of this multifarious man. He succeeds in his aim of returning a neglected figure to public attention, and sheds new light on many key literary and political issues of his age'. Michael Arditti: The Independent TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in Stroud by Sutton in June 2003 ISBN: UK hardback 0-7509-3248-1 UK paperback 0-7509-4497-8 Revised edition of 1994 biography, completed after the death of the seventh Earl of Longford (1904-2001), and using for the first time diaries and papers kept by his wife, Elizabeth Longford. Was used by scriptwriter Peter Morgan as the basis for his award-winning 2006 film, Longford, shown on Channel 4, starring Jim Broadbent in the title role. 'well-judged and sympathetic but not sycophantic': PD James Mail on Sunday 'an alluring account of a unique figure' The Spectator TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by HarperCollins in April 2002 and in New York by Palgrave Macmillan in February 2004. Separate Russian language edition. ISBN:UK hardback 0-00-257101; UK paperback 0-00-653157-1; US hardback 1-4039-6360-6 A personal journey, prompted by the death of his mother, through history and across religions, in the company of scientists, philosophers, bishops, artists, writers, theologians and atheists, in order to discover the place people have called heaven. Stopping off en route at various heavens on earth, it asks if heaven is a man-made put-up job to make death more palatable, or the ultimate promise? 'Stanford's best book to date: chatty, opinionated and learned. Although it records the slow marginalisation of a powerful idea, it is not an obituary'. Mail on Sunday 'witty, engaging and inclusive' Karen Armstrong TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by HarperCollins in May 2000
ISBN: UK hardback 0-00-255839-4; UK paperback 0-00-638859-0 The story of Bronwen Pugh, the most famous model of her generation, who in 1960 married Lord Astor and became chatelaine of Cliveden. Three years later she was embroiled in the Profumo affair, the sixties sex and spying scandal that hastened her husband’s death. With unprecedented access to her private papers, it tells of the religious faith that remains the bedrock of Astor’s life.‘well-written, conscientious and thorough…shows a good sense of place and period, convincingly recreating the post-war fashion world, the social scene at Cliveden, the London of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the bickering and barminess of Bronwen’s eccentric Christian communities’ Selina Hastings: Times Literary Supplement TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by Heinemann in April 1998 and in New York as The Legend of Pope Joan by Henry Holt in October 1998. Separate German (Rutten & Loening and Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag), Brazilian (Gryphus), Czech (Nakladatelstvi Svoboda) and Croatian editions. ISBN: UK hardback 0-434-02458-9; UK paperback 0-7493-2067-2; US hardback 0-8050-3910-4; US paperback (Berkley) 0-425-17347-X. And in Kindle edition ASIN B004K6MEAE Investigating the legend of Pope Joan - the English woman who, dressed as a man, allegedly headed the Catholic Church in the middle of the ninth century. Did she really fool the authorities and rise to the top of the all-male clerical hierarchy of Catholicism, or is her story folklore, based on an obviously impossible scenario? The book was the basis for a BBC 1 Everyman documentary presented and produced by the author, shown in December 1998. 'A compelling account of one of the least-known stories in church history (that) unfolds like a good mystery yarn...thorough, intelligent and absorbing': Boston Globe 'This is a most entertaining piece of detection and history which voyages bravely into heretical waters': Michele Roberts: Independent on Sunday TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by Heinemann in March 1996 and in New York in July 1996 by Henry Holt. Separate Italian (Piemme), German (Insel Verlag), Greek (Apxetyno), Brazilian (Gryphus) and Japanese editions. ISBN: UK hardback 0-434-00042-6; UK paperback 0-7493-1726-4; UK TV tie-in paperback 0-7493-2506-2; UK paperback re-issue (2003) 0-099-46556-6; US hardback 0-8050-3082-4; US audio book (Audio Renaissance) 1-55927-416-6. A Kindle edition is available (ASIN B004FV4XPS). Tracing the development of the figure of the Devil, as the face of evil, across religions and down the ages up to the current day. Is there a universal need for a spirit of evil to explain away humanity's failings, or is Satan abroad in the world as exorcists and fundamentalists claim? The book was the basis for a BBC TV series, featuring the author, broadcast in March 1998. 'a vivid, impish and tantalising work on the dark side' Melvyn Bragg: BBC Radio 4 TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by HarperCollins, April 1995 ISBN UK hardback 0-00-627924-4 Illustrated account of the great Recusant houses of Britain where the Catholic faith was kept alive during the centuries of persecution that followed the Reformation |
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Published in London by Heinemann in March 1994 ISBN: UK hardback 0-434-73516-7; UK paperback 0-7493-1377-3 A biography of the seventh Earl of Longford (1904-2001), Anglo-Irish peer, convert to Catholicism, socialism and Irish nationalism, who served as a minister under Clement Attlee (1945-1951) and as a member of Harold Wilson's cabinet (1964-1968), but was best known for his lifelong crusade for prison reform, which culminated in his campaign to win parole for the Moors Murderess, Myra Hindley. 'so well-balanced that it may be little to Longford's taste' Bevis Hillier: Spectator 'affectionate and intelligent' Ben Pimlott: Guardian |
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Published in London by Geoffrey Chapman in May 1993 ISBN: UK hardback 0-225-66658-8; UK paperback (Continuum) 0-225-66882-3 An account of the leader of the English and Welsh Catholic Church between 1976 and 1999, first written to mark his 70th birthday, examining both the life of Basil Hume and the wider changes in the nature of the Catholic Church in Britain that he came to symbolize, namely its transformation from persecuted post-Reformation rump to integrated, accepted part of national life. 'an absorbing and important analysis which should be essential reading for all intelligent Catholics. The style is breezy but the questions posed are hard-hitting and the commentary equally so' Antonia Fraser: Catholic Herald TO BUY THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK HERE |
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Published in London by Heinemann and Channel 4 in March 1992. Separate German (Goldmann Verlag) and Polish (Muza) editions. ISBN UK hardback 0-434-67246-7; UK paperback 0-7493-1031-6 TV tie-in with Channel 4 series presented by the author and novelist Kate Saunders, examining the gap between the ideals of Catholic sexual teaching and the realities of many Catholics' lives, and the damage done to those who feel themselves to fall short of those ideals. 'what makes it compelling reading is the authors' palpable belief in their Church and their disgust that its strong teachings should be overshadowed by the sexual equivalent of angels on pinheads' Irish Times |
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Published in London by Faber and Faber in March 1990) ISBN UK hardback 0-571-14191-9, UK paperback 0-571-14192-7 Looking at the role of bishops in a secular society and the reactions of contemporary prelates to a range of theological, ethical and political issues of the day 'bright and clearly well-informed': John Mortimer Sunday Times |
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Teach Yourself Catholicism (London, Hodder Education, 2008: paperback 978-0-340-96880-2) Published in the 70th anniversary year of the Teach Yourself books, a beginners' guide to Catholicism, covering its history, doctrines and past and present practice. With a foreword by Cherie Booth QC.
Catholicism - An Introduction (London, Hodder Education, 2010: paperback 978-144105124, Kindle BOO4KSRZT2) An updated edition of Teach Yourself Catholicism.
Opening Up: Speaking Out in The Church (London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 2006: paperback 0-232-52624-9) Co-edited with Julian Filochowski to mark the 60th birthday of Catholic campaigner, Martin Pendergast, a series of papers making the case for reform in the Catholic Church. (edited) Why I am Still A Catholic (London and New York, Continuum, 2005: hardback 0-8264-8577-4, paperback 0?8264-9145-6) Collection of essays on their faith and their doubts by well-known Catholics, including Cherie Booth QC, Edward Stourton, Cristina Odone, Dermot O'Leary and Peter Stanford. (edited) Lord Longford's Prison Diary (Oxford, Lion, 2000: removed from sale) Diaries covering the period 1995 to 1999 and recording the various prisoners visited by penal reform campaigner, Lord Longford. The Anatomy of The Catholic Church (Norwich, Michael Russell, 1994: 0-85955-203-9) New edition of earlier account by Gerard Noel, edited and revised by Peter Stanford, with a new essay added by him on the papacy of John Paul II. (edited) The Seven Deadly Sins (London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1990: hardback 0-340-54154-7, paperback 0-340-53854-6). Collection of short stories, with illustrations by Clara Vulliamy, by writers including Rachel Billington, Morris West and HRF Keating. First appeared as a Lenten series in the Catholic Herald. (edited) Hidden Hands: Child Workers Around the World (London, Collins Fount, 1989: 0-00-627362-9) A collection of poems about child labourers in the third world, written by British eight to sixteen year olds as part of a Catholic Herald competition, organised to mark the silver jubilee of the development agency, Cafod, |
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© Peter Stanford 2011. All rights reserved.
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