Pixar’s best films understand that kids are capable of profound emotional intelligence. As they try to regain their former success, I think that is what they should focus on.
Arts & Culture
David Foster Wallace, A.I. and the future of the humanities
Twenty years ago, David Foster Wallace delivered one of the most widely shared and admired graduation speeches of all time. It still rewards close analysis.
The Half-Life of Longing
Scientists haven’t studied the isotopes of heartache
God and man in America: William F. Buckley Jr.
As Sam Tanenhaus makes clear in ‘Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America,’ it is impossible to understand American politics and culture without grasping Buckley’s immense influence.
Review: Aimee Semple McPherson, America’s first media evangelist
In “Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson,’ Claire Hoffman delivers with a fast-paced page turner on the life of Aimee Semple McPherson. This biography brings into print another review of the achievements and personal failures of this major pioneer of media evangelism.
Review: Dave Barry gets away with it
Readers of Dave Barry’s latest, ‘Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up,’ will find enjoyable excerpts from many of his most notable columns, surrounded by additional memories, commentary and, occasionally, the perspective of hindsight.
Review: Virginia Konchan, a poet of miracles
In ‘Requiem,’ her fifth book, Virginia Konchan takes the sacred seriously. She’s jocular with her subjects, including God, yet in doing so she demonstrates sustained attention toward the divine. God is among her natural poetic vocabulary.
Decline and fall? Christian Smith on the demise of traditional faith
In ‘Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America,’ Christian Smith argues that traditional institutional religion has lost its grasp on America—at least among Americans under the age of 50.
