Non-Fiction Books

The Harry Potter series of books and movies are wildly popular. Many Christians see the books as largely if not entirely harmless. Others regard them as dangerous and misleading. In his book A Landscape with Dragons, Harry Potter critic Michael O'Brien examines contemporary children's literature and finds it spiritually and morally wanting. His analysis, written before the rise of the popular Potter books and films, anticipates many of the problems Harry Potter critics point to. A Landscape with Dragons is a controversial, yet thoughtful study of what millions of young people are reading and the possible impact such reading may have on them. In this study of the pagan invasion of children's culture, O'Brien, the father of six, describes his own coming to terms with the effect it has had on his family and on most families in Western society. His analysis of the degeneration of books, films, and videos for the young is incisive and detailed. Yet his approach is not simply critical, for he suggests a number of remedies, including several tools of discernment for parents and teachers in assessing the moral content and spiritual impact of this insidious revolution. In doing so, he points the way to rediscovery of time-tested sources, and to new developments in Christian culture. If you have ever wondered why a certain children's book or film made you feel uneasy, but you couldn't figure out why, this book is just what you need. This completely revised, much expanded second edition also includes a very substantial recommended reading list of over 1,000 books for kindergarten through highschool.

The Harry Potter Series, book by book. Parental Strategies for Healthy Family Culture. Pope Benedict and Harry Potter. The War of Disinformation and Opinion. Harry Potter and the Gnostic Mind. Where Is It All Going? Twilight of the West. The Golden Compass or the Moral Compass? Master story-teller and artist Michael O’Brien—the man to whom CNN went for comment on Harry Potter—has penned the definitive work assessing the Potter phenomenon. This book is essential reading for all parents whose children have read or are considering reading the wildly popular offerings by J.K.Rowling and similar works such as Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Although this is an analytical work, the reader will be captivated from the beginning, from the must-read preface onward. O’Brien's earlier work, A Landscape with Dragons, delineated authentic Christian fantasy literature from its counterfeits. Now in Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture, he fascinatingly contrasts Potter-world with C.S. Lewis’s Narnia and with Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings, and specifically Harry with Frodo. For those whose children have consumed Potter, O’Brien’s analysis will enable parents to comprehend the messages which have been fed their children and give them the points and arguments which will hopefully be the antidote to properly reset their moral order. The book goes beyond Potter, however, to address other bestselling series such as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. In addition to these and other fantasy books, O’Brien reviews the films which they spawned. In all, the author’s new book teaches Christians how to discern harmless fantasy literature and film from that which is destructive to heart, mind and soul. I cannot recommend this work highly enough. John-Henry Westen Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief LifeSiteNews.com See F&T Press for more info www.ftbookstore.com

Of all the dimensions of the Faith, eschatology is probably the one that is the most neglected today—and one most believers are most suspicious of. Typically, books on the subject are either written by fundamentalist fear-mongers whose eschatology seems to come from the National Enquirer, or by their enemies, who soothe “peace, peace” when there is no peace, or by scholars who squint at gnats and swallow camels. Like Christ, this book will offend both Pharisees and Sadducees, both Herodian collaborators and Zealot revolutionaries. The book is a wake-up call. It is utterly relevant to our times. A plethora of views that echo the words of Christ, of scripture, of the Fathers, and of modern writers such as Lewis, Chesterton, Tolkien, Ratzinger, John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Christopher Dawson, Josef Pieper, Cardinal Newman, and the Catechism. These are united in a harmonious chorus to tell us that we sit at the edge of an abyss which we have ignored or masked. We sit in the Titanic’s deck chairs enjoying martinis. When Catholics hear and heed the message of this book, and not before, she will recover the passion and energy of our ancestors who, when they looked into the future, saw both a great light and a great darkness, both glory and gore, both wonder and war, where we see only a vague fog. —Dr. Peter Kreeft, author of C. S. Lewis for the Third Millennium and Christianity for Modern Pagans The comfort zone of Christians in once Christian societies is disappearing rapidly and a new totalitarianism, as the world has never seen before, is on the rise, preparing the way for a secular messiah—the Antichrist. Michael O’Brien is a whistleblower for sleeping Christianity, the whistle being the Word of God. We have acquired a habit of dumbing ourselves to the very severe warnings of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. But “we are people who can look into the reality of a dark age and find there the approaching victory of Christ.” Michael O’Brien’s book is a powerful call to prepare ourselves by making use of the many avenues of grace “that heaven is pouring out for us at this time.” —Gabriele Kuby, author of The Global Sexual Revolution: Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom The crisis we are facing today in the Church, in the family and in society in general is at an unprecedented level. Throughout history God has raised up prophets to warn about the severity of offenses to Almighty God. Michael O’Brien has for most of his life been such a voice in the wilderness. His clarion call about the Apocalypse we now face is an essential warning for all those with ears to hear. —John-Henry Westen, founder and publisher, Lifesite News Born in Ottawa in 1948, Michael O’Brien is the author of twenty-eight books, notably the novel Father Elijah and eleven other novels, which have been published in fourteen languages and widely reviewed in both secular and religious media in North America and Europe. His essays on faith and culture have appeared in international journals such as Communio, Catholic World Report, Catholic Dossier, Inside the Vatican, The Chesterton Review and others. For seven years he was the editor of the Catholic family magazine, Nazareth Journal. Since 1970 he has also worked as a professional artist and has had more than 40 exhibits across North America. Since 1976 he has painted religious imagery exclusively, a field that ranges from liturgical commissions to visual reflections on the meaning of the human person. His paintings hang in churches, monasteries, universities, community collections and private collections throughout the world. Michael O’Brien lives near Combermere, Ontario. He and his wife Sheila have six children and eleven grandchildren.

The human community is never more endangered than when totalitarianism appears to be benevolent. The new totalitarian’s idealism, his “humanitarianism,” his public image, may all communicate to us many good things, and thus our imagination is captured to the detriment of real discernment. We soon find ourselves succumbing to a magnetic attraction, and voting for leaders whose agendas mix admirable elements and fatal flaws. We then discover that we have elevated to positions of maximum influence men who would sacrifice human lives for the sake of “peace” or a thriving economy or some other value. Our guilt is denied, our sense of personal responsibility is numbed, to the degree that we perceive the sacrificed lives as statistical abstractions and our personal comforts as more real. By such choices we are revealed to ourselves. Where our treasure is, there is our heart. By and large, in the once-Christian democracies of the West we have been measured in the scales and found wanting.Author Biography: Born in Ottawa in 1948, Michael O’Brien is the author of twenty-eight books, notably the novel Father Elijah and eleven other novels, which have been published in fourteen languages and widely reviewed in both secular and religious media in North America and Europe.His essays on faith and culture have appeared in international journals such as Communio, Catholic World Report, Catholic Dossier, Inside the Vatican, The Chesterton Review and others. For seven years he was the editor of the Catholic family magazine Nazareth Journal.He has given hundreds of public talks and lectures at universities and churches throughout Europe and North America, and has frequently appeared as a guest on television programs in several nations. Since 1970 he has also worked as a professional artist and has had more than 40 exhibits across North America. Since 1976 he has painted religious imagery exclusively, a field that ranges from liturgical commissions to visual reflections on the meaning of the human person. His paintings hang in churches, monasteries, universities, community collections and private collections throughout the world.O’Brien lives near Combermere, Ontario. He and his wife Sheila have six children and ten grandchildren.

Based on a lecture Michael D. O'Brien gave at the Centre for Faith and Culture, Oxford, this essay traces the long history of mankind's creative imagination throughout millennia of expansion and growth-citing examples that range from cave painting to classical sculpture, the icon and manuscript illumination to film and contemporary literature. The author weaves together his under-standing of numerous significant works of art, philosophical insights, spiritual reflection, and personal stories, which, combined, offer a multi-dimensional vision of our origin and our future. Underlying it all is the question of Man's nature and what our creative powers reveal about our true identity as children of God. O'Brien proposes that a new iconography is waiting for us, one that will be built upon all that the historical imagination has given, but reinvigorated by a rejuvenated Christian consciousness. Humility alone will allow us to find again our proper place in the hierarchy of creation: "In submission to natural and supernatural law," he writes, "to the absolutes, in obedience and prayer, by opening our interior life and the intellectual life to the full authority of the Holy Spirit, we will germinate a little seed. And from it entire forests can spring and may yet cover the earth."

This work is a profound and illuminating conversation between two Catholic artists who are also gifted writers. The setting is a house in the woods near Combermere, Canada. The two men are alone, free to explore the wellsprings of Christian art and the suffering that its creation entails. This moving discussion between the two artists and writers is not theoretical. It lays bare the anguish and the joy of a life lived in the service of an artist''s vocation. Includes an eight-page art insert.