Books

Do not be misled by this book 8217 s title The use of girl here hints at a touch of innocence and na vet that assuredly does not apply to the book 8217 s subject The art journalist Lindsay Pollock 8217 s The Girl With the Gallery reconstructs the life of a groundbreaking and largely overlook

Holocaust literature that grimmest of subgenres may be said to have begun with Primo Levi 8217 s devastating and indispensable though wretchedly translated Survival in Auschwitz 1947 But Levi was little read at first not until the trial of Adolf Eichmann unforgettably reported by Hannah Ar

In this thought-provoking study Brother Patrick Hart former secretary to Thomas Merton has drawn from a notable list of collaborators a full spectrum of ideas on the future of monasticism In his Introduction Dom Bernardo Olivera O C S O warns that if monastic life is not continually updated

The first impulse of many particularly on the right will be to dismiss this book immediately upon reading its title Indeed by mentioning the political F- word and linking it with a war on America Hedges takes to a new level an already ongoing critique of the Christian right developed in a spate

In a few months we will reach the 70th anniversary of the publication of Gilbert Garraghan 8217 s three-volume history of the Jesuits in the 19th-century Midwest Don 8217 t have a copy beside your night table Join the club I teach American history for a living I write about the history of Catho

Most people find few aspects of Jesuit history more fascinating than the mission of the Jesuits to China Matteo Ricci invariably depicted wearing Mandarin dress has assumed legendary status as a precocious herald of cultural accommodation He was succeeded by such other Jesuits of heroic stature

In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est Pope Benedict XVI explored the relationship between eros and agape desire and self-gift with pastoral sensitivity and theological depth A few days before publishing the encyclical the pope himself gave an important indication of his intent He sought he said

Stephen Prothero a historian of American religion and the author of a much acclaimed earlier volume American Jesus takes his cue for his title from E D Hirsch rsquo s 1987 volume Cultural Literacy What Every American Needs to Know Prothero addresses a huge paradox America is very religious b

As the poet Joan Murray points out in her introduction to this stellar collection the glitteringly self-deprecating Pushcart Prize has been bringing extraordinary literary talents to a broad readership for 30 years This volume is the third in a series of prize-winning Best of the Best volumes from

In 2002 Pete Hamill scored a bestseller with his novel Forever which told the story of an Irish immigrant granted the gift of eternal lifeso long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan Meanwhile next year Brad Pitt will star in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button based on an F Scott Fitzg