Faith and Fratemalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus by Christopher J. Kauffman (review)

1 40BRIEF NOTICES consolidated their various interests under a single joint-stock Company, they held full or partial ownership of some sixty private business firms. William 's personal wealth was estimated at ten millions. As a prominent citizen and member of the Irish-Catholic community, Grace involved himself in local politics. Twice, in 1881 and 1885, he was elected mayor of New York. Thereafter he remained a major influence in the Democratic national party, helping to seat Cleveland. This book review might be an occasion to discuss the changes that have occurred in the literary genre of biography in the past half-century. Let us say only that the years have not altered the high degree of readability of the style of Marquis James. G. de Bertier de Sauvigny (Paris) Kauffman, Christopher J. Faith and Fratemalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus. Revised Edition. (New York: Simon and Schuster. 1992. Pp. xxix, 529. »45.00.) Originally published in 1982 to mark the centennial of the founding of the Knights of Columbus, Kauffman's history was widely praised and quickly became the standard work on the subject. This revision, done by Kauffman to coincide with the quincentenary of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, retains all the strengths ofthe original: thorough research, inclusion ofawealth of detail on both the institutional history of the Knights and on twentiethcentury American Catholicism generally, and insightful interpretive observations on Knights' rituals and practices. Structurally nearly identical to the original, it improves on it by carrying the story forward for an additional decade (1982-1992). Kauffman adds more information on the group's founder, Father MichaelJ. McGivney, and interprets his relationship to the group analogously to that of a founder of a religious order. In doing so and in placing Knights' fraternalism within the broader context of associational behavior, he makes good use of recent research in two widely different fields. This volume was published along with a more popular version [Christopher Kauffman, Columbianism and the Knights of Columbus: A Quincentenary History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992)] which, itself, is a good brief illustrated history of the organization. The revised edition is longer and obviously intended more for a scholarly audience. Considering the original edition 's great strengths and the improvements made in both the 1992 versions, Kauffman's studies are sure to remain the standard works on the Knights of Columbus for some time to come. David L. Salvaterra (Loras College) ...