"The Power and the Glory", Graham Greene - Book Review

This is an interesting look at a section of history you never hear about. Below are some links if you want to learn more. Yes, some are Wikipedia, but this is not a scholarly video.
1. Mexico's Forgotten Pain: The Persecution of Catholics and the Cristero War - catholicgene.w...
2. Separation of Church and State: Mexico's Divisive Religious History - www.theguardia...
3. The Untold Story of the Knights During the Cristiada - www.kofc.org/en...
4. Mexico: Confrontation Between Church and State - indigenousmexi...
5. Little Known Religious History: Cristero War Shattered Mexico - www.wvgazettem...
6. Religious Oppression in Mexico: from December 4, 1915 - www.americamag...
7. Revisiting "The Power and the Glory" During Lent - www.theatlanti...
8. Wikipedia Version of History of Catholic Church in Mexico - en.wikipedia.o...
9. Wikipedia Version of Anticlericalism in Mexico - en.wikipedia.o...
10. Wikipedia Entry on Power and the Glory - en.wikipedia.o...
11. Leader of Tabasco, possibly during this book - en.wikipedia.o...
12. Sparknotes of "The Power and the Glory" - www.sparknotes...
13. Part of a Lecture on "The Power and the Glory" - marishapessl.c...
14. Time Magazine's 100 Best English Language Novels since 1923 - entertainment....
Resources
Moh's Scale of Science Fiction Hardness - tvtropes.org/p...
Bookstores if you don't have a local bookstore
Tattered Cover Bookstore - www.tatteredco...
Biblio - www.biblio.com
Thriftbooks - www.thriftbook...
Bookshop - bookshop.org
Better World Books - www.betterworl...
Blackwells - blackwells.co....
Powell's Books - www.powells.com
Ferguson Books (Bismarck, ND) - www.fergusonbo...
Owl Bookstore (Bismarck, ND) - / bestbookstoreinbismarck
Main Street Books (Minot, ND) - www.mainstreet...
Zandbroz (Fargo, ND) - www.zandbroz.c...

[@thereisonlythecave]

I read "The Power and the Glory"decades ago and had forgotten the plot. Thank you for the excellent review and the background information on Mexico and the author. I want to re-read it now.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Glad you enjoyed it! For me, it was very much worth re-reading because I got so much more out of it this time. Good books stand multiple re-readings because you find more and more each time.

[@jondowee]

Thank you for this excellent personal review of a classic. Keep 'em coming.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

More to come!

[@alanpareis734]

Thank’s Jason a great review and thanks for the reminder of a book I have been going to get “a round tuit” for decades. Now I will yet this year. My only experience with Greene’ work is his play “The Potting Shed.” Either my high school or college drama group did it, and I designed and directed the lighting, though I don’t remember anything of the play. Guess I’ll have to read that again. Oh I did finally see The Third Man, about decade ago when a close friend dragged me to our local art theater to se a revival of it. Loved it. A quick check of Wikipedia today noted that Greene not only wrote the screen play, but that 3rd man was based on a novella that Greene wrote, guess I’ll have to check that out too. Thanks again.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Graham Greene wrote quite a number of good novels. As part of this book review thing, I plan to read more of them. He was quite interesting.

[@bibliographer4369]

What a great review. "The End of the Affair" is my favorite from Graham Greene - his books are challenging, and scrape against the human psyche.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That was my introduction to Graham Greene. What a sad story!

[@christopherdecock4256]

Thanks for reviewing this excellent book! Quite a powerful book.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

It really is! There are just so many layers!

[@nicksg3002]

The audio is clear👍 Very interesting book. In my poor knowledge, Europe's religious people can be very devoted and this was brought to Mexico from Spain in the most violent both physical and psychological ways of Catholicism. Native mexicans had Nature idols (sun,snakes,corn,etc); brown skin people that will happily die for their Emperors. Spanish imposed Catholicism and churches were built in mass. Mexicans dealed between their true Faith in idols and prayers to white virgin statues just for pure fear. Eventualy, catholicism won. Benito Juarez ended education and religion. Mexicans, once again, got lost. Ignorance Prevailed. Fear to believe and fear to know because lack of education is President's best tool. Juan Pablo II, "rescued" mexican catholicism (he visited the most his born town Polland and then, Mexico). Nowadays, there are more christians than catholics and Faith in an specific Religion is almost gone. Some catholic churches survive by people around them who pay to keep them alive. Inside very few of them, all walls have sculptured a mix of baby angels next to corn, for example. A place where whatever religion you have, merge.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

Unfortunately, you're right: in the colonies, religion was frequently used as a tool of subjugation, and we're being reminded of it with the tragic rediscovery of the tragedies in the Native American Boarding Schools. But that's only the modern face of it. It's also interesting how local religious practice frequently is incorporated into Christian practice: our celebration of Christmas is just one example. I wasn't as familiar with religious practice in Mexico. I maybe ignorantly assumed it was largely Catholic. I have heard of the rapid growth of evangelical churches in Brazil. But I think this follows general religious practice here in the US as well: a lot of people who identify as Christians are not involved in churches or organized denominations.

[@nicksg3002]

I hope your parents are ok and that you could enjoy their company. How is your garden?

[@WaskiSquirrel]

My parents are doing well. But there are their natural fears over the virus. I'm hoping that next summer we can see each other again.

[@mannylamont5757]

Great selection! Sure it doesn't have anything to do with a Benny Latimore song of the same title but it's a good song too! Have you read anything by Jorge Amado? Everyone who references him talks about his masterpiece "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" which is good but not as good as "Gabriela Clove and Cinnamon" (highly recommend) or "The Violent Land". Lots of Catholic themes, flawed characters, rather antiquated but sorely missed concepts of courage, manhood and valor.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I have not read anything by Jorge Amado. But I'm keeping track of recommendations. I looked up "The Violent Land" and it sounds interesting. Reminds me of a book I read once about rubber plantations.

[@archivist17]

An excellent review of a very complex book. This was the second Greene novel I read, after Brighton Rock, which, by comparison, is almost a comedy. The Power And The Glory is,vto my mind, not so much about the resilience and nature of faith, which you drew out very well, but about human failings, and owes more than a little to Les Miserables in the priest and Lieutenant, like Valjean and Javert, being reflected in each other, and all human beings with faults.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

You make a good point about the human failings. The whisky priest has obvious failings, but so do all the characters. Interesting comparison to Les Miserables. I hadn't thought of that.

[@paulherman5822]

Today, Mexico also has a pretty hefty Mormon community. Mitt Romney's ancestors were Mormon missionaries in Mexico. Oh, the fun things that stick in your head that no-one else has interest in, when you love history... 😁 Pretty decent Mexican Spanish pronunciation, though, like myself, there's still some "Anglo" poking through. 😁 Looks like a book I'm definitely going to look into. Thanks for sharing this! I have friends from Mexico, and it's not surprising that knowledge of history is generally minimal at best, around the world. They don't even know much about it, beyond a few generations. ("Mestizo" is originally like the same connotation as "halfbreed" is in English, today. Though, there was a point in Mexico's history that not being of pure Spanish blood was a bragging point. Mestizo basically just meant half native, generally Aztec or Maya.)

[@WaskiSquirrel]

I know Romney had Mormon missionaries in Mexico, but I had no idea there was much of a Mormon population there. The term Mestizo is how the character is called in the book, so I went with that. Hopefully it's not too offensive a term.

[@paulherman5822]

@@WaskiSquirrel It's a point of pride, today. 😁 I have friends who are proud of their mixed heritage. (Aztec, Maya, conquistador, Japanese... Seriously. There's a Yamamoto in the current run of convoluted last names in that family. And Italian. There's also a Guido. 😁) There's Mormons in that family, and Mexican Catholic, and some even agnostic.

[@FernandoMendoza-dw8nz]

Aside from Coral I actually really only liked the Lieutenant. He only cared for the future of his people. A nation free of the old colonial ways. Maybe not a good person but of all the characters you read about in the book he is the only honest one.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That's a good assessment of the Lieutenant. He was warped in his methods, but was doing what he thought was the right thing, including at personal cost.