Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed

He was Nixon’s hatchet man. A jailed felon. And now, one of the most significant Christian leaders of our time. Here is his life story.

Charles Colson has become one of the most revered leaders of our time. His ministry outreach, Prison Fellowship, has swelled to 40,000 volunteers working in 100 countries. His Angel Tree Christmas program provides presents to more than half a million children of prison inmates every year. His daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint, airs daily on more than 1,000 radio outlets across the country. And his twenty books have sold more than five million copies in the U.S.

But God had to work some mighty miracles to bring this unusual servant to this prominent place of service. After all, Colson was known as President Nixon’s “hatchet man.” His involvement in the Watergate conspiracy led him to prison–and then to a life-changing encounter with God.

Now, noted author Jonathan Aitken has written the first biography that compellingly presents a first-rate understanding of the political, historical, and spiritual journeys of Charles W. Colson… a life redeemed.

He was Nixon’s hatchet man. A jailed felon. And now, one of the most significant Christian leaders of our time. Here is his life story.

Charles Colson has become one of the most revered leaders of our time. His ministry outreach, Prison Fellowship, has swelled to 40,000 volunteers working in 100 countries. His Angel Tree Christmas program provides presents to more than half a million children of prison inmates every year. His daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint, airs daily on more than 1,000 radio outlets across the country. And his twenty books have sold more than five million copies in the U.S.

But God had to work some mighty miracles to bring this unusual servant to this prominent place of service. After all, Colson was known as President Nixon’s “hatchet man.” His involvement in the Watergate conspiracy led him to prison–and then to a life-changing encounter with God.

Now, noted author Jonathan Aitken has written the first biography that compellingly presents a first-rate understanding of the political, historical, and spiritual journeys of Charles W. Colson… a life redeemed.

Publishers Weekly

Evangelical leader Chuck Colson could hardly ask for a more friendly biographer-not only did Aitken write a sympathetic biography of Richard Nixon, whose downfall Colson shared in the wake of Watergate, but Aitken is himself a former politician (a British M.P.) who went to jail and then discovered evangelical Christian faith. Yet his theological and political affinities with his subject do not prevent him from delivering a largely candid assessment of a man whose early career was both brilliant and resolutely godless, and whose postconversion ministry to prisoners has vaulted him to the top rank of evangelical heavyweights. Given unfettered access to Colson's associates, family and papers (even his personal, heavily annotated study Bible), Aitken excels at retelling Colson's early years of political machinations. His portrait of Colson's process of religious conversion is gripping as well, though it overlaps with the story Colson himself told in Born Again. Aitken's prose, usually lively, sometimes turns breathless. At times Aitken's obvious admiration for his subject leads him to downplay Colson's critics, including the disaffected associates he has left behind in his ministry career. But if this falls short of the definitive critical biography, it is still a compelling portrait of a flawed but faithful man. (July 19) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

JONATHAN AITKEN, an Oxford graduate in both law and theology, is the author of the award-winning biography Nixon: A Life. A former British M.P. and cabinet member, his political career ended in 1999 when he served a seven-month prison term for perjury in a civil case. He is now a lecturer, author, columnis,t and broadcaster.