"James Carroll’s The Truth at the Heart of the Lie is at once a passionate love letter to the enduring beauty of the Catholic faith and a passionate indictment of the clericalism of the Catholic Church. This moving and revelatory book, written from deep personal experience, takes us to the heart of one of the great institutional and existential crises of our times."
- Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Swerve and Will in the World
A deeply personal exploration of what has broken the modern Catholic Church...detailed, honest, and brutal...consistently captivating...[a] moving, forthright autobiography and searing critique…an urgent call to action. (Read full review)
— Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
James Carroll’s latest book is grounded in deep familiarity with the history of the Catholic Church, his experience as a faithful Catholic, and his own ever-perceptive mind. Though a wrenching and honest confrontation with the dismaying recent history of the Church, the book can and should be read also as a cautious, wise and real word of hope. A disturbing, moving, and important book from one of the keenest interpreters of contemporary Catholicism.
— Kevin Madigan, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Harvard University
This persuasive, provocative book will be a must read. (Read full review)
— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
James Carroll has been extending his life story and his critique of the Catholic Church in tandem for a generation. The Truth at the Heart of the Lie brings that turbulent dialogue to a moving and gripping conclusion, a repentant Catholic’s manifesto and culminating apologia pro vita sua. Prepare to race through it at one sitting -- and then live with it.
— Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography
James Carroll's new book, The Truth at the Heart of the Lie, is an amazing account of the author's life-long adventure of faith, full of candor and pain about one man's encounter with the peculiar blessings and severe limitations of Catholic Christianity. Here the reader will come to know a man of such intellectual breadth and astonishing self-honesty as one almost never encounters in contemporary literature.
— Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization
In The Truth at the Heart of the Lie James Carroll bares his Catholic soul - and the soul of his Church…Carroll peers, with undaunted courage, into the shadows of deceit and corruption that have shaken his soul's confidence. In that darkness, he discovers the truth hidden in the human failings, sins, and betrayals of his Church’s bishops and priests. The Catholic priesthood and the Catholic Church are at a tipping point. This gripping memoir of faith, bringing us to our knees, might well move us over the edge.
—Rev. Donald Cozzens, former Rector of the Catholic Seminary in Cleveland and author of Notes from the Underground
James Carroll has written a courageous and inspiring account of his original commitment to and subsequent disillusion with the Catholic Church...Our only hope is to have the courage to imagine a future that returns to the spirit of equity, love and compassion that is fundamental to the true teaching not only of the Catholic Church but which lies at the heart of all the great world religions.
— Karen Armstrong, author of The Case for God
James Carroll is the author of twelve novels, most recently The Cloister, which the New York Times called "Incandescent;" and nine works of non-fiction, including The Truth at the Heart of the Lie, published by Random House in March, 2021. Other books include the National Book Award winning An American Requiem; the New York Times bestselling Constantine's Sword, now an acclaimed documentary; House of War, which won the first PEN-John Kenneth Galbraith Award; and Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which was named a 2011 Best Book by Publishers Weekly. His oped column appeared weekly in The Boston Globe for twenty-three years, and his essays appear at NEWYORKER.COM. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he lives in Boston with his wife, the writer Alexandra Marshall.
Recent Articles published by James Carroll:
June, 2019 (Cover Story of The Atlantic) - "To Save the Church, Dismantle the Priesthood."The long story of Christian anti-Semitism. “A triumph, a tragic tale beautifully told…a welcome throwback to an age when history was a branch of literature.”
- Charles R. Morris, Atlantic Monthly
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and the Melcher Award.
AVAILABLE NOW:
A man, his father, and his faith. “A flawlessly executed memoir…the tragedies and triumphs of the Civil Rights era and Vietnam War protests.”
- National Book Award citation
AVAILABLE NOW:
What the Holocaust has done to the meaning of Jesus. “Carroll’s own reading of Jesus, at once stunningly original and strangely familiar, is a testament to the power of a critical, creative faith.”
- The Boston Globe
AVAILABLE NOW:
Jerusalem in the history of religious violence - and in the American imagination. “I dare you to read this book and see Jerusalem, or yourself, the same way.”
- Bernard Avishai, author of The Hebrew Republic
AVAILABLE NOW:
A Personal history of the Pentagon. “There is only one writer in America with the historical depth, elegance of style, and moral complexity to have taken the full measure of this most central of American institutions.”
- Bill McKibben, author of The End Of Nature
AVAILABLE NOW:
Part memoir, part theology…a prophetic call for the reform of the Roman Catholic Church. “Brilliantly written, passionate and vivid.”
- Hans Küng, author of On Being a Christian
AVAILABLE NOW:
“A novel with the breathtaking pace of a thriller and the gravitas of a genuine moral center - as if John LeCarré and Graham Greene had collaborated to produce Warburg in Rome.”
- Mary Gordon, author of There Lies Your Heart
AVAILABLE NOW:
“James Carroll is at his brilliant best in this thoughtful, eloquent, passionate, and provocative collection.” - Senator Edward M. Kennedy
“A journalistic page of glory. Carroll has shown that it is possible to see and understand the true nature of awful events - not only afterward, with hindsight, but even as they unfold, when it counts most.” - Jonathan Schell
“Crusade is the most compelling report and analysis that we’ve had yet of the Middle East conflict, specifically Iraq, and all in wonderfully readable style.” - John Kenneth Galbraith
AVAILABLE NOW:
