The original Italian version of this book (hereafter cited as It.), based on a dissertation defended at the Pontifical Gregorian University, was published in Rome in 1997 (La Compagnia di Gesù nell'Impero Russo [1772–1820] e la sua parte nella restaurazione generale della Compagnia [Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1997]). Since then, the monograph has deservingly become an indispensable reference for the study of the Society of Jesus in the turbulent period of its worldwide suppression in 1773–1814. In 2004, an expanded Russian edition of the book (hereafter cited as Rus.) was published in Moscow (Oščestvo Iisusa v Rossiiskoi Imperii [1772–1820 gg.] i ego rol’ v povsemestnom vosstanovlenii ordena vo vsem mire [Istoričeskii Institut Obščestva Iisusa, Institut filosofii, teologii i istorii sv. Fomy, 2004]). One can only welcome the fact that an English translation (hereafter cited as En.), prepared and edited by a leading American expert in the field, has now appeared in print. The Italian original has already received detailed reviews (the reader can consult, for example, Daniel L. Schlafly, The Catholic Historical Review 84, no. 4 [1998]: 782–783 and Fidel González, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 37 [1999]: 226–229); this review focuses on the specifics of the new, Anglophone edition.

The book consists of two parts. The first part, comprising three chapters, is titled “The Jesuits in the Russian Empire, 1772–1820.” Chapter one explores Catherine II's refusal to enforce in her empire the brief Dominus ac Redemptor by which Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society in 1773 (27–46); chapter two describes the way the Society organized itself in Belarus during the initial years of the suppression (47–70); chapter three treats, more broadly, Jesuit missionary activities in the Romanovs’ empire, including St. Petersburg, the Volga region, Odessa, and Siberia (71–92). Chapters four through six make up Part Two of the book, “Approval of the Society of Jesus,” which deals with the resurgence of the Society and the role the Jesuits of Belarus played in this process. Here, chapter four tells the story of the papal approval of the Society of Jesus in the Russian Empire (95–126); chapter five specifies the contribution of the Jesuits of Belarus to the reestablishment of the Society in Italy (127–158); and, finally, chapter six investigates the rebirth of the Society in various countries in the first two decades of the nineteenth century (159–194).

The subtitle given to the English edition is somewhat misleading. From the two parts of the book, only the first and shorter part (27–92) treats the survival of the Jesuits in the Romanovs’ empire; the longer second part (95–193) traces the history of the Society in countries and regions remote from Russia, including Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean, Great Britain, North America, Holland, Belgium, and China.

Schlafly introduces a number of improvements in the English edition. This edition benefits immensely from rich illustrations showing the main personalities and sites of the history (65 figures, En. 208–209). Numerous and often distracting biographical digressions that slowed down the pace of the main text of the original version (e.g., It. 98–99 and 103–104, the biographies of Gruber and Brzozowski) have been helpfully relocated to the alphabetically organized biographical appendix (En. 231–263). The bibliography has been expanded to include publications that have appeared since 1997, in particular publications by the author and by the translator/editor. Unfortunately, it is uncertain whether the omission of the documentary appendix of the book containing the text of thirty archival documents (It. 263–318; cf. Appendix I En. 209–214) is to be seen as an improvement. Even if some of the former appendix documents are now quoted, in translation, in the main text (cf. for example, It. 263–265 with En. 32–34), quite a few texts printed in the Italian edition are missing in the English edition, which is regrettable. The 2004 Russian edition of the book, with its expanded documentary appendix containing forty-one documents in translation (Rus. 459–466), would have served as a good model for the English edition. To provide just one example, the text of the ukaz of Alexander I on the expulsion of Jesuits from the Russian Empire in 1820 (Rus. 459–466), which remains virtually unknown to the Anglophone reader, would have been an excellent addition to the documentary corpus (cf. the sparse remarks on En. 83, 92n76).

The main strength of Inglot's book is its extensive and masterly use of archival resources, particularly those from the archives of the Society in Rome and Poland. Today, however, its narrative appears too descriptive and “positivistic,” especially when read through the lenses of recent discussions of the cultural role of the Jesuits in the Catholic Enlightenment (Ulrich L. Lehner, The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement [Oxford University Press, 2016]) and in the process of globalization (Thomas Banchoff and José Casanova, eds., The Jesuits and Globalization: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Challenges [Georgetown University Press, 2016]). There is fascinating potential for future research to provide a new, deeper perspective on Jesuit activities in the Romanovs’ empire by problematizing their contribution to the global cultural context. To some degree, the newer book by Sabina Pavone (Una strana alleanza: La Compagnia di Gesù in Russia dal 1772 al 1820 [Bibliopolis, 2008]) undertakes such a project. The two recent volumes edited by Robert A. Maryks and Jonathan Wright (Jesuit Survival and Restoration: A Global History, 1773–190. [Brill, 2015]) and by Jeffrey D. Burson and Jonathan Wright (The Jesuit Suppression in Global Context: Causes, Events, and Consequences [Cambridge University Press, 2015]), add to the picture on a global scale.

Even against the backdrop of these more recent contributions, Marek Inglot's book remains a classic. Its beautifully presented and translated English edition will undoubtedly become an indispensable historiographic tool for the Anglophone reader in the years ahead. Comparing it to the original Italian version, and, possibly, with the Russian edition of the book will be, however, necessary in some cases, particularly for one wishing to check its documentary basis.