When I first saw it in an Orthodox bookstore I was a little miffed that they didn't give old Lorenzo Scupoli credit on the cover 
I agree but the evangelical converts to Orthodoxy who never got over their "Catholic problem" really annoy me. Carlton, IMHO, is a classic example. If Orthodoxy is true then it should stand or fall on its own merits. It seems that a certain class of converts are obsessed with a need to unfavorably contrast Catholicism with Orthodoxy.
I don't think Catholicism should even enter into it. Catholic apologetics don't make the case for Rome by bashing the Orthodox. When authors do that they seem, I don't know, maybe a little insecure?
You too and good luck
Jumping in a bit late, but being in a bit of a unique situation, as a Protestant, who kind of did things backwards, I just wanted to share how these books and this fit into my conversion.
As our denomination grew more and more liberal, my husband and I knew it was just a matter of time before we would convert, and it was always assumed that we would become Roman Catholic. Scott Hahn's books and tapes were the first thing we encountered and that was about 10 years ago. Knowing only what I was taught by my Reformation/ very anti-Rome Lutheran Church, it seemed to neatly tie up all the misconceptions and loose ends.
But as Navigator says, conversion is a life long process, and God was not finished with me yet. Several years before we actually left, by chance, (I met them through something that had nothing to do with the Orthodox Church...it was an ecumenical type thing/and was exposed to some of the best Christian writings-I don't know if anyone is familiar with 8th Day Books, but I spent the next 3 years browsing, reading, not to convert to this or that Church, but to grow in faith) I encountered many Orthodox converts. At the time I didn't know an Eastern Catholic from and Eastern Orthodox, or a Church Father from a Church Mother. The bookstore owner just carries the best, not to mention hard to find, books from all eras of the Faith. I read Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory and Ephraim, not about them. I also read Augustine, Aquinas and Ignatius. It wasn't until we were coming down to the wire, and I finally did make some direct contact with the Orthodox Church, that I started to even entertain the notion of maybe, not going to Rome.
This was complicated by the fact that my husband had already decided that he was going to become Roman Catholic.
His conversion to Roman Catholicism was based on the merits or Roman Catholicism; it was not a rejection of Orthodoxy (though my husband is very well versed in Church History). Orthodoxy was not even on the horizon for him. I kept reading, though not to "decide" anything, but out of an intense hunger and thirst, almost to a point that I felt I was nearly dead from famish, both physically and spiritually from staying too long in a place that no longer preached the Gospel.
By this time I had read most of Ware, but another book,
The Mystery of Faith" by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, along with participating in what was essentially Orthodox Western Rite Worship, finally broke wide open my nearly dead cold stone heart, and I and I knew that is was because I had found a place where it was possible to come face to face with Christ.
Still under the illusion that I would find the same thing in Roman Catholicism (because nothing I read, as of yet, could in any way be called polemic), I found a very Traditional Parish, with a Priest who is one of the holiest men I ever met, that did the NO in Latin, and changed over to the Tridentine the minute it was allowed by the Pope. If there was a way to get a true, not watered down, Roman Catholicism, I found it on my first try. I assumed that this "conversion" would continue, just in a different setting.
At first, and this was a Mercy I will always be grateful for, the truth of my path dawned very slowly and gently. I was not thrown into a state of confusion, panic, heartrending, fearful for my marriage state, but started RCIA classes with the intention of converting with my husband, but at the same time kept up with my reading, and found it almost impossible to stay away from Orthodox Worship. I had visited my first Eastern Divine Liturgy, and was in awe, but intellectualized it as just an "experiential" event, and did not let it influence me. (this was not just emotional, fuzzy good feeling, but ended up to had everything to do with community, worship; it was not a Jesus and me encounter).
Looking back, I interpret it as finally being fully converted already to True Christianity, and the next step was finding a the place where God could continue the work of conversion, within a community of others working out their salvation.
From then on it seemed the farther into Roman Catholicism I went the farther away I kept finding myself from Christ. I went back and forth for a long time, approaching and then distancing...and after enough times, that I am too embarrassed to mention, the full weight of what was happening began to fall.
The decision to become join the Orthodox Church (I guess I was already Orthodox, since for me Orthodox=Christian).
Then I hit, or was hit by, some of the polemic books and authors mentioned here. I was not impressed with Carlton, and Hahn had long since found it's way to the back of the bookshelf. Then people brought out the "heavy hitters", a certain James Likoudis, a Catholic convert from the Orthodox Church (but the Orthodox Church he writes about resembles nothing I have ever encountered in Orthodoxy).
I haven't read Carlton's book, The Truth, but judging what he says Hahn said, and how quickly Hahn dismissed Orthodoxy, I would not be surprised (but very saddened) that he based much of his opinion on the writings of this man. If Hahn placed his confidence in this book, and it wouldn't surprise me, since Likoudis is the leading unorthodox apologist, his unfortunate, and inaccurate view of the Orthodox Church is forgivable. Mr Likoudis is very sincere, and very respected for his faith, reverence, and humility; all the more unfortunate since his misunderstanding of Orthodoxy has affected Roman Catholic/ Orthodox relations among the more zealous converts on both sides.
As to my feelings and judgment of Roman Catholicism, it is a struggle. On one hand, I was heartbroken that I could not find union with Christ there and that inspires sadness, disappointment, anger, but it the Church that is caring for the soul of my husband, and a place that he has found Christ, so I also feel a bit protective, and a deep longing for healing for the Church,
but not at any price..
People think I chose the Orthodox Church over my husband, but it was Christ that I followed, and would have followed anywhere. It is still all a mystery to me; I find comfort in that on a micro level, we are incarnating the healing that needs to take place in the Body of Christ, his Church. It's a small comfort, and many times the pains outweigh it, but the Mercy of God covers all in the end.
Sorry for the length, and apologize if I bored anyone, or am off-topic
