UNIVERSAL FATHER

The first biography to tell the full and extraordinary story of one of themost influential figures of the twentieth century, setting the privateindividual in the public context Pope John Paul II is now universallyconsidered to have been one of the great leaders of the twentieth centuryand possibly the most politically influential pope since St Peter. Hisachievements are well documented, yet he once said, ‘I can only beunderstood from the inside.' In this vivid and accessible living portrait,O'Connor investigates the inner man, including Karol Wojtyla's life beforehe became Pope and his friendships with men and women, subtly analysingthe Pope's own poems, plays and philosophical works for clues as to whatmade him tick. It also dramatically follows his life, from his birth inPoland in 1920, through the losses that shaped his childhood, theassassination attempt in 1981, and his great public confrontations on theworld stage, right up until his death in April 2005.