While the majority of readers are familiar with C.S. Lewis’s children’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia, or his popular theological releases Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, how well do they know the author himself? Although Lewis left this world 50 years ago, his writings live on, as popular as ever in the hearts of audiences young and old. In The A–Z of C.S. Lewis: An Encyclopedia of His Life, Thought and Writings (Lion Books/November 1, 2013/ISBN 978-0-7459-5586-5/$24.95), Colin Duriez provides a comprehensive introduction to Lewis’s life, family, friends, career, marriage and writings, as well as an inside look into the worlds he created, the creatures he imagined and the studies he delighted in.
“C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia are consistently among the bestselling children’s books, firmly established as classics. ...Lewis, who for many years was an atheist, is also unmatched as a popularizer of the Christian faith in recent times, and is certainly one of the most widely read believers in the history of the church. In specialist circles, his books of literary criticism — introducing writers such as John Milton or the period of the Middle Ages — are still in print, half a century after his death,” writes Duriez, a highly respected and renowned author and lecturer on both Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. “I suspect many of us have only read one kind of his wide range of writings.”
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