‘Dignity’ is part a long tradition of writers who left their lives of comfort to study squalor and decline,
John W. Miller
John W. Miller is a Pittsburgh-based former Wall Street Journal staff reporter and co-director of the PBS film “Moundsville.”
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
The opioid crisis demands a new solution. Churches are hoping to be part of it
The solution to the “current opioid crisis is one that involves the whole person.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: When giants roamed the earth
Armed with enthusiasm, command of his material and a knack for analogy, Steve Brusatte has written a book that incarnates dinosaurs with color, sound and fury.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Is government the problem? Not really.
The nation’s nonfiction bard, Michael Lewis, makes the case that our government is more important—and competent—than we realize.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
A Catholic guide to your mid-life calling
There are three things you need to orient yourself in times of crisis and change, a monk told me: divine inspiration, the facts of your life and a wise witness to certify that you’re living in reality.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Silicon Valley’s unlikely founders
Adam Fisher’s oral history of Silicon Valley chronicles the genesis and sometimes fall of every tech giant, the invention of key technologies and the development of cultural institutions around the industry.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
My ancestor owned 41 slaves. What do I owe their descendants?
Shining a light on the truth, followed by some sort of atonement, seemed the right thing to do, especially at a time of rising and relegitimized white supremacy in the United States.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Should we be worried about A.I.? Theologians, philosophers and Catholic thinkers weigh in
As Facebook, Apple and Google pour billions into artificial intelligence, ethicists and moral philosophers are racing to keep up, and Catholic thinkers are looking ahead to the possible harms to humanity.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
As their parents get older, who will care for people with disabilities?
As states continue to close large state-run institutions designed to house large numbers of people with cognitive disabilities, the United States faces a new crisis: a shortage of new nonprofit group homes.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Living in Trump’s America: A West Virginia town looks for a fresh start
Moundsville, while in decline, has never been nearly as bad as the picture of rusting hell Mr. Trump painted in his inauguration address.