Rating: 
Summary: Balanced enough to let the reader decide
Review: Obviously, this book has sparked a lot of passionate debate and that is, in most cases, a good thing. The book is well written and covers the formation of the man who would become Pius XII as well as his actions as Pope. But I think that the analysis tends to discount the "Communist threat" versus the Nazi holocaust in the thinking of the time. Rather than emerging as an anti-Semitic demagogue, I came away sympathizing with Pius's dilemma. At the time, Communism was viewed as primed for a takeover of Europe (just read "The Last Great Frenchman" concerning the liberation of Paris and de Gaulle's fear of a Communist takeover, for an example). This book clearly shows a pope distressed by the murder of Catholics and the destruction of Catholic churches under Lenin, Stalin, and their supporters. Fascism comes along, with its especially virulent Nazi strain, to put the Vatican between a rock and a hard place. Two reprehensible ideologies are fighting for control of Europe, but in the end, it's the Fascists who physically surround the Vatican, forcing the pope to be careful in his dealings lest he be prevented from doing anything at all against either Reds or Browns. Relatively isolated, subject to a concerted Fascist disinformation campaign, and fundamentally responsible for the lives of his Catholic followers, Pius was hardly well situated to lead an effort to destroy Hitler. I suspect that he did what he felt he could (and Pius was lauded by many people of the time for his efforts). Perhaps, in retrospect, he might have done more, but that is an opinion that could be directed against a broad spectrum of western leaders of the time.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is terrible.....
Review: Even though this book is well written, thus the danger of it. it lacks history background and it is blunt attack against the Catholic Church, but most noticebly against the Papacy. Cornwell tries to make a case against Pius XII and for those who are ignorant and don't read or watch the news or live in a box, this book might succeed and make people hate the Roman Catholic Church, but as we all know, the Roman Catholic Church was the number one provider to save Jews during WWII. There are countless stories from Jews that were saved by Roman Catholics. the Vatican itself open its doors to Jews and hid them inside, where Hitler dare not attack, yet. The highest Rabbi of Italy was hidden in the Vatican and actually converted to Catholicism. It is very sad how willing people are to believe anything that is written in paper and they don't do more research to see if what they read is true.
The Vatican ordered Cloistered nuns to open their doors to Jewish men and women alike. (Cloistered nuns are only suppose to accept women and are not allowed to see men) This Pope did a lot more than Cornwell claims. he open churches, cloisters, schools, etc and ordered them to help the Jews. There were many priests that died along Jews in concentration camps because they were caught helping Jews. it is history, facts!!!
Also, if anyone knows anything about Cornwell's biography it is a fact that he is a disgruntled Roman Catholic, who dislikes the Catholic church and would do anything to prove it wrong, even if it means lying as he has so bluntly done in this book.
There are countless Jewish historians that praise Pope Pius XII, including Michael Tagliacozzo, who has nothing but high regard for the Pope and his fellow Roman Catholics, he himself was saved by Roman Catholics.
People, read and investigate more don't believe the words of a small minded person with a personal agenda to discredit the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings. For in this books he attacks Vatican I and II, the Marian doctrines, the Infalibility of the Pope when it comes to matters of Faith and Doctrine.
As history it is garbage, for he has been discredited many times over by Historians, which include many Jews and by many others, including Vatican and Jewish documents.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Concordat
Review: At bottom, Cornwell's charge against Eugenio Pacelli is not that he was a Nazi, not even that he was uncritical of Hitler. Rather, according to "Hitler's Pope," the crimes of Pius XII were sins of omission, of bureaucratic introspection, of ostrich-like obsession with court protocol at the very point where Holocaust victims were being shipped out of Rome, literally under the Vatican's gaze. Was this because, as Cornwell argues, of a latent anti-Semitism in Pacelli's make-up? Was it simply a case of a deeply misguided sense of diplomatic priorities? Or is it right to say, as do Pacelli's defenders, that the Church did everything within his (severely limited) means? Cornwell's book is certainly the "Case For the Prosecution," and if taken in that light, provides an excellent starting point for making one's own assessments.
Rating: 
Summary: Out of date already
Review: This book was first published less than two years ago, and it has already been thoroughly refuted time and again by far more credible authorities and scholars. In contrast, what scholar has come to Cornwell's aid? They say time has an uncanny ability to separate truth from fiction, but it is remarkable how fast it has happened here. At this point, buy the better sources that have followed Cornwell if you are interested in the facts.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: Let me first say that this book is very one-sided. It's amazing how the author forgets how Pius was given the medal of honor in Israel by the Jews for his outstanding efforts in WWII. Only read this book if you want to laugh. Otherwise, don't read it.
Rating: 
Summary: obtuse, short,
Review: Not much good research in this book,the critques will cause more to be sold. both writier and critics are biased. too bad
Rating:
Summary: Facinating Reading
Review: The hype around this book, generated by both sides, has been intense and an unfortunate distraction. Interestingly, for all the smoke around the argument no one has been willing to debate the reality that the book addresses or Pius' pivotal place in church history. In the first half of the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church's primary concern was the rise of communism in Russia, Spain and South America. Because of that fear, they were willing to make a pact with Hitler. That pact is not an opinion, but a signed treaty that Pius negotiated. Many other excellent books have dealt with how the Church's perceptions and prejudices towards Jews formed the essential background for the Holocaust (Towards the Final Solution is probably the best work on the subject). That is not what this book is about and should not be discussed in the context of reviews. Instead it asks what did the Church do during the war and why did it make the choice that it did. In the Catholic Church, such study must focus on the pope. Why did the Roman Catholic Church undermine the Roman Catholic Party in Germany, arguably the most successful Catholic party in Europe and the last bulwark against Hitler? Why was the Church less vocal, even in the name of Jewish converts to Catholicism who the Nazi's murdered? While you can understand neither WWII nor the Church through this one book, it is still worth a critical read by anyone interested in the topic.
Rating:
Summary: Hitler's Pope or Cornwell's Fiction?
Review: I hesitate to classify John Cornwell's investigation of Pius XII as history. It is largely a tour-de-force of character assassination aiming a dagger at the heart of the traditional wing of the Roman Catholic Church. It does this by the well-practised method (often used by disaffected 'liberal' Catholics) of vilifying not only Pius, but through him the present day centralist papacy that Cornwell so obviously despises. Thus, the real object of attack is John Paul II, portrayed here as the spiritual heir to all the retrograde, clerical-fascistic ideologies of Pius XII. Problems begin with the front cover photo. This attempts to smear Pius, at the time papal nuncio in Germany, by showing him taking a salute from German troops. But to anyone who knows his militaria, it's obvious that the guard are wearing pre-Nazi era uniform. It's worth pointing out that the cover photo in the US edition has been studiously cropped to eliminate the guard nearest the camera: in the United Kingdom edition, this cropping did not take place. One wonders whether the publisher considered American readers to be rather more informed on these matters and would recognise the attempted deception. Why use this photo then? The answer is obvious: Viking/Penguin hacks scoured the archives but were unable to find any photo showing Pacelli with Nazis. As he left Germany in 1929, more than 3 years before Hitler's appointment as Chancellor, this is hardly surprising. If such misrepresentation is used before we reach page 1, it doesn't augur well for what is to follow. And indeed, what follows, is all of a piece. A hostile verdict is given, the victim presented for the pillory and evidence to the contrary either denigrated or ignored. One example, taken out of many that could be used to illustrate the author's hostility to the Vatican, is the background to the Concordat of July 1933. Those who judge Pius XII guilty of complicity with the Nazis are always keen to argue that the guiding force behind the agreement came from Rome and not Berlin. Unfortunately for John Cornwell, this view is false. Anyone who reads through German foreign ministry files for early 1933 can see plainly that it was Hitler who instructed his Vice-Chancellor, Franz von Papen, to open negotiations. The Nazi policy in the first months of Hitler's ministry was to seek for a rapprochement with the Church, soft-pedal on anti-Christian and anti-Catholic propaganda and thus achieve (hopefully) a temporary credibility among the German electorate at large. In private, Hitler had confided to close associates in April 1933 that there was no room for Christianity in the 'new' Germany but he was biding his time and would strike against the Churches when the right moment came. This breathing-space did not prevent Gestapo units from arresting over 2000 supporters of the Catholic Bavarian People's Party in late June 1933 and threatening thousands more if Eugenio Pacelli's signature was not forthcoming on the treaty offered by Berlin. Seen in this light, the Concordat was a defence mechanism, safeguarding those living in fear of SA and Gestapo thuggery, and not as Cornwell argues, a squalid device to curry favour with the rapidly totalitarianising Nazis. A mass of evidence, which this author overlooks constantly and wilfully - that in reality Pacelli was not an anti-Semite, but actively helped Jews during the war - is plain for all those prepared to look just a little further than Cornwell does. Basically, the evidence comes from Jews themselves: from Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, the historians Pinchas Lapide, Joseph Lichten and Alfred Lilienthal (to name but three) and all those who praised Pius during and after the war, and on the occasion of his death in 1958. It also comes from the editorials of the New York Times, before elements of that newspaper were kidnapped by the politically correct, anti-Catholic zealots of the 21st century. Cornwell's assurances that he is now a 'practising Catholic' rather than, as previously thought, a believer in the 'futility of the quest for God' (consult his 1991 book: 'The Hiding Places of God') throws up the vexed question of why this assertion was made in the first place. Was this a half-hearted attempt, perhaps suggested by the publisher, to win sympathy for the author's impeccably 'Catholic' credentials and thus head off criticism that here was just one more ex-Catholic with a particularly sharp axe to grind? If the claim was made to substantiate the scholarly objectivity of this badly-researched book, then it fails miserably as any astute reader will soon come to realise. For all those who cling to the staple Vatican-conspiracy theory of history, a belief that somehow the papacy exerts a totalitarian influence akin to mass-hypnosis and that with mere words the Holocaust could have been derailed, Cornwell offers sound back-up and will doubtless be welcomed with open arms. Yet the supreme irony of the author's position appears to have passed him by: only a pope with the powers of a spiritual Stalin, demanding (and receiving) unswerving obedience from the faithful, would have been able to mount truly effective protests - presumably by mobilising armies of rosary-bearing Catholics. In this scenario, Stalin himself, who asked the famously rhetorical question: "How many divisions does the Pope have?" would have been left goggling. Yet, a doctrinal supremacist is the very characterisation of Pius that Cornwell abhors and argues against throughout 'Hitler's Pope'. Cornwell pens a partial, unconvincing and self-serving portrait of Pius XII, before and during his pontificate. Although the bibliography purports to show the academic scaffolding that historians require, there is too little in the way of primary material. Where are the archives that Cornwell should have ransacked in his self-proclaimed zeal to expose the real Pius? Where are the references to the Catholic Church in the Nuremberg Trials literature? What has happened to the work of noted German scholars - such as Heinz Hurten - whose conclusions fly in the face of Cornwell's? Unless answers are given - perhaps in a future sequel to this unhappy volume - the educated reader will be left mystified.
Rating:
Summary: Here come the laywers...
Review: I need not bother to explain all the ways in which Israel honored the Pope for his work on behalf of the jews... it has been said before. I just want to point out that books like these have a purpose.. they always come about 1 year before a shakedown attempt by the lawyers. Just watch, it will come.
Rating:
Summary: Biased, Inaccurate trash
Review: For pertinent documents, and a thorogh refutation of this piece of anti-catholic propoganda, one need only view the ewtn.com web site. Or perhaps actually do some research and realize that Pacelli hid Jews in monasteries to save them from the Nazi's, and read his encyclicals denouncing anti-semitism. But, then again, anti-catholics have no use for use for documentaion.
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