John Harriott's fortnightly periscope column has become a cult among readers of the Tablet. Priests read it aloud from their pulpits, gentlemen make a beeline for it in their clubs, and ladies tear it out and carry it in their handbags. They are now avaliable in book form as A Pride of Periscopes. The author, a widely travelled Jesuit journalist and broadcaster takes the world as his oyster. As a member of the Bishop's Commission for Justice and Peace, and the Catholic Institute of Internation Relations, he patrols the frontiers of religion, politics and social reform. But even when the issues are weighty, the style is lyrical and lighthearted. Pride of Periscopes ranges from tyranny and torture to a Christmas party for Tramps, from the sublimities of the Mass to the Shames of Clerical Privilage. Pride of Periscopes is poetic, provocative and widely funny. It is full of good stories and memorable characters, and ideal for everyone who isn'y a fascist beast or a communist doctrinaire.