Georgetown's Second Founder

"The publication of Fr. Grassi's 1818 account of his time in the United States gives us an Italian Jesuit version of Tocqueville, with useful observations on everything from slavery and the climate to housing design and religion. A marvelous achievement." — John McGreevy, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame and author of American Jesuits and the World: How An Embattled Religious Order Made Modern Catholicism Global

"In his remarkably perceptive account of virtually every important aspect of the young United States, Giovanni Grassi anticipates de Tocqueville by two decades. Besides everything else, the book is a great read." — John W. O'Malley, SJ, university professor, Georgetown University

"The role of the Society of Jesus in the history of American Catholicism cannot be overstated. Through the lens of the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Grassi—former rector of Georgetown College and superior of the Maryland Mission—we gain considerable insight into the place of Catholicism in the United States during the early nineteenth century. Combined with Robert Curran's informative introduction and afterword, Grassi's observations bring new light to the Jesuit experience of a nascent Catholic Church in a predominantly Protestant country." — Michael Pasquier, Jaak Seynaeve Professor of Christian Studies and associate professor of religious studies and history, Louisiana State University