In the midst of the remarkable revival of interest and belief in angels comes this handsomely illustrated reference work--the fruit of 16 years of research in Talmudic, gnostic, cabalistic, apocalyptic, patristic, and legendary texts. "A wacky and wonderful compendium of angelic lore".--Time. Illustrations.

"When, on an autumn Medina night in 61/680, the night that saw al-òHusayn killed, Umm Salama was torn from her sleep by an apparition of a long-dead Muòhammad, she slipped effortlessly into a progression of her co-religionists who, irrespective of status, gender or standing with God, were the recipients of dark and arresting visions. At the core of those Delphian dreams, peopled by angels or æginn or esteemed forbears and textured with Iraqi dust and martyrs' blood, was the Karbalåa' event. Her dream would be recounted by an array of Muslim scholars, from al-Tirmiödåi, stellar pupil of al-Buùhåaråi, and Ibn 'Asåakir, untiring chronicler of Syrian history, to bibliophile theologian Ibn òTåa åus and Egyptian polymath al-Suyåuòtåi. But this was not Umm Salama's only otherworldly encounter and she was not the only one to have al-òHusayn's fate disturb her nights. This is their story"--

The Faith of Our Fathers by Cardinal James Gibbons is about the basic tenets of the Catholic faith throughout history. It was published in Baltimore in 1876 and became a best-selling conversion manual in the United States and by 1980 was in its 111th printing. Excerpt: "My Dear Reader:—Perhaps this is the first time in your life that you have handled a book in which the doctrines of the Catholic Church are expounded by one of her sons. You have, no doubt, heard and read many things regarding our Church; but has not your information come from teachers justly liable to suspicion? You asked for bread, and they gave you a stone. You asked for fish, and they reached you a serpent. Instead of the bread of truth, they extended to you the serpent of falsehood."