If Nuns Ruled the World

• NUNS RULE!: From Julie Andrews’s rebellious Maria in The Sound of Music to Mary Tyler Moore’s magnetic Sister Michelle in A Change of Habit, nuns have captured the hearts and imaginations of audiences forever. It’s a fact: The sisters dominate in any situation. Just ask Whoopi Goldberg (Sister Act).
• INSPIRATIONAL STORIES OF HOPE AND CHANGE: With a contemporary setting and modern outlook, each vignette is a strong symbol of vigorous optimism.
• THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: A never-ending source of fascination, the Church has now found itself in more headlines than ever, with the relatively progressive Pope Francis in charge.
• AUTHOR: Already recognized in the celebrity and entertainment industry, Jo Piazza puts her master’s degree in religious studies to work and showcases her impressive scope as a writer. 

“Fascinating profiles” of remarkable nuns, from an eighty-three-year-old Ironman champion to a crusader against human trafficking (Daily News [New York]).

“In an age of villainy, war and inequality, it makes sense that we need superheroes,” writes Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. “And after trying Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, we may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns.”

In If Nuns Ruled the World, veteran reporter Jo Piazza overthrows the popular perception of nuns as killjoy schoolmarms,  instead revealing them as the most vigorous catalysts of change in an otherwise repressive society.

Meet Sister Simone Campbell, who traversed the United States challenging a Congressional budget that threatened to severely undermine the well-being of poor Americans; Sister Megan Rice, who is willing to spend the rest of her life in prison if it helps eliminate nuclear weapons; and the inimitable Sister Jeannine Gramick, who is fighting for acceptance of gays and lesbians in the Catholic Church.

During a time when American nuns are often under attack from the very institution to which they devote their lives—and the values of the institution itself are hotly debated—these sisters offer thought-provoking and inspiring stories. As the Daily Beast put it, “Anybody looking to argue there is a place for Catholicism in the modern world should just stand on a street corner handing out Piazza’s book.”