Converts

In *The Conversion of the Intellectuals: Catholicism and Modernity in Britain* Melanie McDonagh explores why Catholicism drew so many surprising converts in twentieth-century Britain, even as secularism seemed to be the defining story of the age. This is lively religious history and cultural criticism, told through the lives of artists, writers and thinkers who found themselves drawn to Rome.

Set between the 1890s and the 1960s, McDonagh traces conversion as a serious intellectual and spiritual choice, not a quirky fashion. She follows figures from the Decadent world of Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde to Gwen John and David Jones, philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, and novelists including G. K. Chesterton, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark—along with the priests and friendships that shaped their journeys.

Perfect for readers of British history, memoir-adjacent biography, Catholic studies and literary culture, especially those curious about faith, modernity and meaning.

Add it to your cart and see this era through an unexpectedly Catholic lens.