otra reseña en ingles, esta tambien es de un muy buen libro

There are probably few people who haven’t heard of the Jesuits, more properly known as the Society of Jesus, but just how much do people know about them — their history, their goals, and their methods? That’s a more difficult question to answer because there are so many myths that have developed about the organization (both positive and negative). Disentangling myth from reality is no easy task, especially where religion and hagiography are concerned.
Summary
Title: God's Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power - A History of the JesuitsAuthor: Jonathan WrightPublisher: DoubledayISBN: 0385500785
Pro:• Provides ample information from both detractors and supporters• Nice combination of traditional history and anecdotes• Entertaining style that should have broad appeal
Con:• Could have been much longer• More on their doctrines and beliefs would have been helpful
Description:• History of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) - what they did and their impact on religion, society, politics• Focuses primarily on their actions and influence, not on their doctrines and beliefs

Book Review
Because of the very important role the Jesuits have played in the modern development of the Catholic Church, especially with its response to Protestantism and its involvement with colonization and conversion throughout the world, we really can’t pretend that they are unimportant. Founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534, the Jesuits have been an integral part not only of Catholicism, but of how non-Catholics have reacted to Catholicism.
For a solid and readable introduction to the history of the Jesuits, people can turn to Jonathan Wright’s God's Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power - A History of the Jesuits.
A British historian who has written on multiple aspects of modern religious history, Wright is dealing with a very difficult and complicated subject. Much more so than other religious groups, like Franciscans or Dominicans, the Jesuits have inspired awe, hatred, and jealousy — not merely among Protestants, but also among fellow Catholics! Disentangling myth from reality is thus exceedingly difficult - and perhaps undesirable.
“Whether loved or loathed, the Society of Jesus could never be ignored. It would disrupt the certainties and hierarchies of the Catholic Church, transform the intellectual, cultural, and devotional landscapes of Europe, and meddle in successive controversies of reformation, empire building, enlightenment, and revolution. ...Both the hagiographies and the black legends are hopelessly misleading. There have been good Jesuits and bad Jesuits, otherworldly innocents and ambitious political schemers.”
The myths and tall tales about the Jesuits are just as much a part of their history as the truth is, so any decent account of the organization will have to incorporate both in order to give readers a fuller understanding of what the Jesuits have meant to individuals as well as to society. This is a principle which Wright seems to embrace, describing the Jesuits’ actions and impact with a combination of standard historical accounts and curious vignettes that alternatively fascinate and repel.
Many people assume that the Jesuits were created in response to the Protestant Reformation, but that isn’t true. They would have been created anyway, but the Reformation meant that they immediately had a grand purpose and provided the Catholic hierarchy with a new, vibrant tool just when they needed one. The Jesuits were at the right place at the right time, which makes their association with the Counter-Reformation understandable. It also explains their dramatic growth, and that growth is the cause for the jealousy on the part of other Catholics. This led to their formal suppression by the pope in 1773, although enough survived that they could be re-established in the following century.

God's Soldiers: Adventure, Politics, Intrigue, and Power - A History of the Jesuits
Protestants were suspicious of the Jesuits and their actions. Jesuits were thought to be deeply involved in political intrigue and plots to overthrow Protestant governments. Jesuits traveled under false identities and acted to inspire the continuing faith of Catholic communities within Protestant territory. Jesuits also promoted those aspects of Catholicism that outraged Protestants the most — the robes of priests, the Mass, veneration of Mary, and so forth. Jesuits thus became the embodiment of everything hated about Catholicism, one that the Protestants could do something about when they captured a Jesuit in their midst and made a martyr out of him.
Bottom Line
Wright is undeniably sympathetic to the Jesuits and their missions, but that doesn’t stop him from providing plenty of space to their various missteps, prejudices, and crimes. This is no hagiography or whitewash, but it’s not a polemical attack either. In the end readers won’t be quite sure whether to like or dislike the Jesuits, but will definitely have to respect the Jesuits’ impact on religion, culture, and politics. Unfortunately, far more could have been said. A longer book might not have the same mass appeal, but it probably would have been a better book.