Author article in The Tablet.
Listed as 'Ones to watch' in The Bookseller, February 2009
Mention in The Guardian 26/03/10 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/26/pope-benedict-catholic-church
A work of rare insight and careful balance of judgement...give[s] the reader a richer interpretation of Newman's extraordinary genius. Standpoint, May 2010.
Author's article in The Financial Times, April 2010
Author's letter in The Catholic Herald, April 2010.
'In these writings one gets the full weight of Newman's far-seeing insights into modern society, human nature, and religious faith.' -- Contemporary Review
Mention (with cover image) in St. Anthony Messenger
Author review article in the New Statesman.
Reviewed in Commonwealh magazine (UK) 'The book is sensible, judicious, extremely well written, and filled with aptly chosen quotations, from Newman himself (he was, as one critic put it, perhaps, the very greatest master of...sarcasm in the English language), and from friends and foes alike.'
Reviewed in The Oldie, October 2010 (UK)
Author's article in Prospect; 1st November 2010 -- Prospect
'The book looks beyond its subject, Newman being partly a pretext, possibly worthy, yet never wholly attractive and, as ideal, deserving of some erasure and rebuffing. Cornwell accomplishes this with almost invisible grace.' -- Reviewed in the Quarterly Review by Stoddard Martin
'I am, I confess, no theologian, but Cornwell's reflective mix of journalism and academic theology helped my understanding of Newman considerably.' -- Birmingham Post
'Cornwell tells Newman's story in an attractive, readable way, rightly stressing the importance of Newman's Evangelical conversion at the age of fifteen.' -- The Victorian
Reviewed in The Pastoral Review, September/October 2010 'Cornwell's biography shows that God was very much in work in soon to be Blessed John Henry Newman'
'Anyone remotely interested in the Catholic faith and what makes it endure despite its controversies should read this well researched and incisive biography' Reviewed by Jimmy Burns on http://www.jimmy-burns.com/blog/ , posted 15th September (UK)
Reviewed in The Melbourne Anglican, September 2010 (AUS)
Reviewed in The Church Times 17th September (UK) 'A most admirable introduction to its subject: ... it sparkles with carefully chosen quotations; and it is informed by a profound and intelligent engagement with Newman, based on a lifelong fascination with him.'
Reviewed in Renew newsletter September 2010 No. 155 (UK)
Reviewed on Spiked (UK), http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/reviewofbooks_article/9633/ 'The beauty of Cornwell's book is that it has very little to do with the issue of sainthood and everything to do with Newman's intellectual legacy and his astonishing literary output of theology, poetry, philosophy and history.'
'In this splendidly readable biography ... Cornwell recognises, as so many others have not, that Newman was first and foremost a writer - that his genius lay in creating new ways of imagining and writing about religion ... Illuminating.' London Review of Books, 5th August 2010 -- Terry Eagleton
'a vivid picture of Newman's personality' Times Literary Supplement, 28th July 2010
'Judicious ... an excellent introduction 'The Tablet, 24th July 2010
'I doubt if there will ever be a better book on Newman.' -- Alasdair McIntyre, Senior Research Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
'a ... most valuable book' Irish Times, 7th August 2010
'Practising Catholics will want to read this controversial book' Driffield Leader, August 2010
'[Cornwell] admires Newman, but seeks to save him from hagiography and to remind us that he was a great and independent Christian thinker - one of the first, for instance, to accept the idea of evolution - and a master of English prose' The Guardian, 17th July -- David Lodge
'Cornwell is best on Newman the writer, linking him to the Romantic poets before him, and even Nietzsche after. His treatise 'Idea of a University' is surely required reading in today's cost-cutting, vocationally minded climate.' Financial Times
'This book is a highly readable attempt to convey why Newman was, and remains, a fascinating figure.' The Daily Telegraph, 19th July
Reviewed in The Catholic Herald, 16th July
'John Cornwell offers a readable biography in his usual polemic style' 'Cornwell ... knows his material and offers interesting insights.' Church of England Newspaper, 16th July, 2010
'this book ... remind[s] us of [Newman's] integrity and truthfulness and charisma' The Scotsman, also reproduced in Eastern Daily Press on 24th July 2010
This is a wonderfully realized study of a complex man, required reading for every student of English history and its rich Christian tradition. Publishers Weekly (US) 12th July 2010
Mention in Tribune, 25th June 2010
'John Cornwell presents Newman as an independent, original genius who would have emphasised the role of conscience over authority to seek religious truth wherever it might lead.' Easy Riding News, July 2010
'Newman might have squirmed at the somlemn canonisation to which he is now powerlessly subjected' The Daily Telegraph 10th July 2010
'This present work has ruffled feathers among conservative Catholics, but it's an achievement ... [it] avoids hagiography and is squarely aimed at agnostics as well as admirers' The Evening Standard 15th July 2010
Mentioned in Christopher Howse's column in The Daily Telegraph, 10th July
Condensed extract published in The Tablet, 19th June 2010
When John Henry Newman converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845, it represented something of an anticlimax in the career of an Anglican divine and his efforts, through the influential Oxford Movement, to bring the English church back to its Catholic roots. A renowned scholar and thinker, Newman, in his lifetime, produced thousands of pages that some have considered the finest theological writing of his time. Even today Newman continues to shape the thoughts of aspiring theologians. But as Cornwell, prolific author of works on Catholicism, suggests, the good cardinal had his detractors. The author suggests there may be sufficient contradictions in, and perhaps enough unanswered questions about, his subject's life to call into question Newman's upcoming beatification, expected in September. Newman's spiritual and, indeed, philosophical journey serves as a fascinating template for understanding the 19th-century Catholic Church and its trajectories into England. This is a wonderfully realized study of a complex man, required reading for every student of English history and its rich Christian tradition. -Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Review on This Is Somerset website http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/news/Non-fiction/article-2347945-detail/article.html
Newman's lively self-awareness makes his letters fascinating as biography. The Oldie, 1st August 2010
One particular strength of this book is the way Cornwall has quarried material from Newman's writings. The Tablet, 26th June 2010
This timely and instructive work offers a concise and accessible account. Western Daily Press, 26th June 2010
John Cornwell article, 'Newman: apostate, sophist, great hater - and holy exemplar' in The Times 28th May 2010
After a number of substantial Newman biographies in the last century, Cornwell, an award-winning journalist and author, and an objective historian of the modern Catholic Church, offers a concise and more accessible account of the saintly but controversial scholar who was once dubbed 'the most dangerous man in England' by the Vatican. - Mysterious Planet website http://www.mysteriousplanet.net/bookstwo.php
Mention in 'New Titles Just Published' section in The Church Times, 4th June 2010
Cornwell writes about Newman and his time with verve and lucidity ... Cornwell usefully highlights that Newman ... was part of the Roman tradition that saw the imagination as the means to understanding the sublime. The New Statesman, 14th May 2010
[An] Excellent biography ... [A] graceful and scholarly account of Newman's life. The Literary Review, 1st June 2010
A consise and accessible account of the saintly but controversial scholar who was once dubbed the most dangerous man in England by the Vatican. suite101.com
Full page on Newman with Cornwell and Newman's Unquiet Grave mentioned in The Times, 7th May 2010
Brief mention of Newman as a 'Leading Light' in The Times, 7th May 2010
Letter from Fr Ian Ker in response to John Cornwell's letter of 23/4/2010 in The Catholic Herald, 30th April 2010
Author article on timesonline.co.uk, 9th May 2010
There are three qualities which mark this book out for special commendation. First, Cornwell sees Newman was first and foremost a writer ... Secondly, Cornwell is a practised journalist, and loves gossip and a good story ... Thirdly Cornwell, a thoughtful intellectual of our own day, explains the significance of Newman for today's church. - The Spectator, 5th June 2010
Newman's true qualities will shine through, this compelling biography concludes, and the world will be , on balance, better for it. - Continuum author Peter Stanford, The Sunday Times, 30th May 2010
