биографии и мемуары

документальная литература

Apologia Pro Vita Sua (A Defence Of His Life) by Cardinal Newman offers a marvellous insight into the mind of a devout Christian, a colossal figure of the nineteenth century. It is, moreover, one of the greatest spiritual autobiographies ever written in the English language, laying out the development of John Henry Newman&apos;s religious opinions up to the year 1845 when he finally converted to Roman Catholicism. It was Charles Kingsley&apos;s withering and defamatory attack which prompted its writing, giving Newman &apos;ten weeks of anxious work&apos;, as he pieced together the evolution of his beliefs. Newman&apos;s beautiful prose has rightly been described as &apos;regal&apos;, the scholarly arguments are crystal clear and the structure reassuringly chronological; his utter demolition of Kingsley&apos;s accusations (especially that of untruthfulness) at the end of the Apologia is meticulous, inexorable and truly awe-inspiring. It is read by Greg Wagland.