Ignatian Formation by Janos Lukács SJ (Gracewing, £14.99). The place of St Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises in Jesuit affections could not be more secure but, when it comes to training and inspiring members of the order, what about the Constitutions? This foundational text – essentially a statement of precepts and instructions concerning the society’s way of proceeding – is full of advice about formation but is perhaps under-utilised. Lukács’s reminder of the document’s potency is aimed primarily at his fellow Jesuits, but it will interest anyone who wonders how a 500-year-old order attempts to sustain and revitalise the task of nurturing the next generation.
The First Circumnavigators by Harry Kelsey (Yale University Press, £25). Harry Kelsey invites us to remember the “unsung heroes of the Age of Discovery” – the soldiers, sailors and slaves who made the fabled journeys of the famous few possible. Rescuing such shadowy figures from obscurity required long hours in the archives and cautious use of the historical imagination, but Kelsey manages to construct a fluent and convincing account. It’s just a shame that the book is so short with so many opportunities to flesh out the narrative missed.
Go Into the Streets! edited by Thomas P Rausch SJ (Paulist Press/Alban Books, £12.99). Dedicated to the Holy Father, this book is a compilation of essays that examine the “welcoming Church” the Pope is striving to create. Chapter headings include varied themes, such as “A Church of the Poor”, “A Listening Church”, and “Ministry as Merciful Accompaniment”, among others. As the conclusion states: “History may well look back on the pontificate of Francis as that decisive moment in the history of the Church in which the full force of the Second Vatican Council’s reformist vision was finally realised.”
The Sage Train by Nicky Hansell (Matador, £11.99). The author, a teacher, broadcaster and film-maker, has written a stimulating and original book in which “philosophy comes to life”. She imagines the philosopher Nietzsche, solitary and intense, climbing alone on a mountain where he meets a very fat English journalist called Chesterton. Sharing a book and a knapsack of food, they proceed to argue about the meaning of the good life, happiness and objective morality, with the help of the “Sages”, such as Mill, Kant and Aristotle. A fascinating and readable introduction to philosophy, Hansell’s novel repays a thoughtful appraisal.
The Maisky Diaries edited by Gabriel Gorodetsky (Yale University Press, £12.99). Connoisseurs of political diaries will adore this volume, subtitled “The Wartime Revelations of Stalin’s Ambassador in London”. Ivan Maisky was close to the corridors of British political power and the engines of cultural life between 1932 and 1943, and his chronicles transform our understanding of British-Soviet relations in the period. Most of the era’s famous names have walk-on parts and the blend of gossip and acute observation will have you hooked from beginning to end.
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