Press Release: THE END AND THE BEGINNING by George Weigel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rachel Rokicki
212-782-8455 rrokicki@randomhouse.com
* Internationally Renowned Author George Weigel’s Monumental Sequel to His New York Times Bestselling Biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope*
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THE END AND THE BEGINNING
Pope John Paul II–The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy
George Weigel
By George Weigel
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When Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II was published in 1999, it was hailed by the New York Times as “a fascinating chronicle” and the Los Angeles Times declared it “the most authoritative and encyclopedic biography to date.” Now, George Weigel, one of the world’s preeminent authorities on the Catholic Church, presents THE END AND THE BEGINNING: Pope John Paul II–The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy (Doubleday; On Sale: September 14, 2010; Hardcover; $32.50). More than ten years in the making and in light of new and recently disclosed information, THE END AND THE BEGINNING tells the untold story of the Pope’s decades-long battle with communism and brings to a close Weigel’s landmark portrait of a man who not only left an indelible mark on the Catholic Church, but also changed the course of world history.
When he was elected pope in the fall of 1978, few people had ever heard of the charismatic Karol Wojty?a. Yet in a very short time he would ignite a revolution of conscience in his native Poland that would ultimately lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union. What even fewer people knew was that the KGB, the Polish secret police, and the East German Stasi had been waging a dangerous war against Wojty?a and the Vatican itself. Weigel, with unprecedented access to many previously classified Soviet-era documents, chronicles John Paul’s struggle against the dark forces of communism.
Weigel then recounts the tumultuous last years of John Paul’s life as he dealt with a crippling illness as well as the new world disorder and revelations about corruption within the Catholic Church. Weigel’s thought-provoking biography of John Paul II concludes with a probing and comprehensive assessment of a man who lived his life as a witness to hope in service to the ideals he embraced.
Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, is one of America’s foremost commentators on issues of religion and public life. The Vatican analyst for NBC News, Weigel is the author of fifteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II and Doubleday Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism. In preparing THE END AND THE BEGINING, Weigel had unique access to the late pope’s friends and associates and brings those accounts to the forefront of another superb work of biographical scholarship. Please consider a review of this insightful new book or an interview with the author.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
GEORGE WEIGEL, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s foremost commentators on issues of religion and public life. The Vatican analyst for NBC News, Weigel is the author of fifteen books, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Visit www.eppc.org for more information about the author.
THE END AND THE BEGINNING
Pope John Paul II–The Victory of Freedom, The Last Years, The Legacy
By George Weigel
On Sale September 14, 2010 | Hardcover, $32.50 | ISBN: 978-0-385-52479-7
Published by Doubleday Religion an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group
Also available as an eBook.
*National Author Tour*
For more information about the book or to schedule an interview with George Weigel, please contact Rachel Rokicki at 212-782-8455 or rrokicki@randomhouse.com
