To its credit, issues discussed in this book are fairly representative of how they were treated in Vatican II. Yet, anyone who took the time to peruse the mountain of Vatican II paperwork would find it is as much a task of reading between the lines as it is a assortment of opposing views--why this work reads like a hodgepodge of reason.
Too, this book is not complete. The authors are selective of those issues that seem to fit their agenda and ignore other issues. Also, many of the reforms laymen wrongly perceive as being a product of Vatican II are not discussed--the most significant changes in church reform have been post-Vatican II.
The objective of Vatican II was to bring the church into a modern world. Yet, as a matter-of-fact, it did little to bring the church into a modern world. In its vast accumulation of material written entirely by men--mostly doctrinal conservatives--one will not find the words `contraception,' `women,' `homosexuality,' `pedophilia,' and a host of other issues inherent in a changing world. Today, the leader of the world's largest congregation conditions children from an early age, little boys are better than little girls.
Many books detail the goings-on in Vatican II--they tend to be repetitious of one another. Yet, what we need is a book that deals not with the mere window dressing Vatican II accomplished, rather with what it should have accomplished and failed to do.
There are others, yet, one book which spells out Vatican II accomplishments vs. what it should have accomplished and did not, is the biography of John Paul I: Murder in the Vatican: The CIA and the Bolshevik Pontiff
Too, the authors would have been better served to have presented this material in a more entertaining way which would reach a wider audience, rather than as an overabundance of referenced material which appeals to those self-appointed `intellectuals' who talk down their noses as if they know something the rest of us don't know.
Lack of reader reviews is probably the best barometer of a book's worth. Does it rile up any interest either from the right or the left? Does it tell us anything we didn't already know? How many readers think it is worth the minute or two it takes to post a review?