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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In a chronicle that captures nearly two thousand years of inspiration and intrigue John Julius Norwich recounts in riveting detail the histories of the most significant popes and what they meant politically culturally and socially to Rome and to the world Norwich presents such popes as Innocent I who in the fifth century successfully negotiated with Alaric the Goth an invader civil authorities could not defeat Leo I who two decades later tamed and perhaps paid off Attila the Hun the infamous ldquopornocracyrdquomdashthe five libertines who were descendants or lovers of Marozia debauched daughter of one of Romersquos most powerful families Pope Paul III ldquothe greatest pontiff of the sixteenth centuryrdquo who reinterpreted the Churchrsquos teaching and discipline John XXIII who in five short years starting in instituted reforms that led to Vatican II and Benedict XVI who is coping with todayrsquos global priest sex scandal Epic and compelling Absolute Monarchs is an enthralling history from ldquoan enchanting and satisfying raconteurrdquo The Washington Post.