Readers of this volume will do well to keep in mind that scholars were not allowed access to the papers of Pope Pius xi (1922–39) until the Vatican Archives opened them to researchers in 2006. The essays contained in this collection represent the work of a number of historians who have been able to access material related to Pius xi's papacy and incorporate it into their own work. Some, however, may find the book's title somewhat misleading. In addition to a foreword by Romano Prodi and an introduction by Charles R. Gallagher, sixteen scholars contributed essays on the papacy of Pius xi; only seven, however, focus on the pontiff and the United States. Topics relevant to the US include the Revd Charles Coughlin (Gerald P. Fogarty); Cardinal George Mundelein's remarks about Adolf Hitler (Robert Trisco); US monetary assistance to the Vatican during the Great Depression (John F. Pollard); and the ‘problem’ of birth control in the US during this era (Lucia Pozzi). Each essay offers a different approach to examining Pius xi's pontificate; many of them convincingly demonstrate the importance of the Vatican Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli (later Pius xii, 1939–58) in the papacy's response and reaction to the particular issue under discussion. The scope of the collected essays is broad enough to appeal to diplomatic, religious, social, economic and cultural historians of US Catholicism. The remainder of the volume focuses on the broad topics of Vatican transnationalism and Pius xi and the racial laws. The topic of transnationalism is represented by essays on the question of Malta (Aappo Laitinen), and Pius xi, Pacelli, and the German Catholic hierarchy (Suzanne Brown-Fleming). The section focusing on the racial laws includes studies of various aspects of Italian Fascism (Robert A. Ventresca, Robert A. Marks, and David I. Kertzer and Alessandro Visani), and Pius xi's response to antisemitism, racism and totalitarianism (Frank J. Coppa, Jacques Kornberg and Emma Fattorini). Comments by John A. Davis (Vatican transnationalism) and Michael R. Marrus (racial laws) summarise each section and raise questions for further thought and research. Overall, scholars will find this volume useful. The three essays (noted above) that examine Pius xi's attitude toward antisemitism, for instance, each offer slightly different perspectives that will help readers to begin to complete a puzzle that has at least several pieces missing. The conference papers published in Pius XI and America should be seen as the first phase in historical research on the man and his pontificate.