Justice Sonya Sotomayor’s autobiography, ‘My Beloved World’
Karen Sue Smith
Karen Sue Smith is the former editorial director of America.
Posted inArt
A Swedish Master: An American gallery revisits the work of Anders Zorn
The sumptuous colors, dazzling brushwork and sheer drama in the paintings of Anders Zorn (1860-1920) earned the Swedish artist fortune and fame during the Gilded Age. But Zorn’s work and name gradually fell into obscurity outside Sweden. As a result, his brilliant body of work has not been sho
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Can Japan balance economic growth against the hazards of nuclear power?
As memory of Fukushima dimmed, the antinuclear movement lost some momentum.
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Child, Martyr, Everyman: Chagall’s Jewish Jesus
The Jewishness of Jesus has seldom been rendered more clearly in art than in the crucifixion scenes of Marc Chagall.
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Chagall’s Mirror: How a Jewish artist can help Christians understand the crucifixion
The Jewishness of Jesus has seldom been rendered more clearly in art than in the crucifixion scenes of Marc Chagall. Of the 31 paintings and 22 works on paper in “Chagall: Love, War and Exile” (on view until Feb. 2, 2014, at the Jewish Museum in New York City), the handful of crucifixion
Posted inFaith
Francis in ‘America’: A historic papal interview draws world-wide reaction
Editor’s note: The historic interview with Pope Francis (Am. 9/30) has generated a great deal of dialogue in the church and in society at large. We asked several writers to offer their reactions to the pope’s words. Selections from these responses are printed below. The full versions of
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A Pope Engaged with the World: Francis hears the cries of his flock
From Karen Sue Smith: the pope hears the cries of his flock
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Bird Watching: Art that can help save the planet
Just weeks before Pope Francis, in his inaugural homily, explicitly urged listeners to protect the environment, two art exhibitions opened in New York City, both of which explore the environmental theme through extraordinary renderings of birds. Surely Pope Francis, whose namesake is the patron sain
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Contemporary Crucifixion: Renato Guttuso’s modern Italian masterpiece
"Crucifixion,” a wall-sized oil painting created by Renato Guttuso (1911-87), one of Italy’s finest modern painters, is widely recognized as a 20th-century masterpiece today. But a year after the painting was unveiled in Rome in 1941, during World War II, it sparked controversy. Gut
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Masterworks in Progress: Exploring the mind, and work, of Henri Matisse
Exploring the mind, and work, of Henri Matisse