To be the writerly son of a writerly father is not always the easiest vocation. When that parent is as famous as Andre Dubus, it must be doubly difficult. But who knows: Maybe it can make for great art? One might ask Andre Dubus III.
Catholic Book Club
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Pope Francis caused a stir by quoting Teilhard de Chardin. Here’s what you need to know about the ‘often misunderstood’ Jesuit.
Pope Francis mentioned Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., at the close of his Mass in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday. Might this mean the great priest-paleontologist is finally being recognized by the Vatican for his genius?
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America magazine writers who dreamed they saw St. Augustine
Saint Augustine still captures our imaginations 16 centuries after he lived. What is it about this theologian, philosopher, preacher and memoirist that makes him such a perennial favorite?
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Going back to school this week? Here’s some advice from generations of America writers.
The dog days of August are also the first week of school for millions of students, parents and teachers. Want some advice on how to handle it? Generations of America contributors have had thoughts on the subject.
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The Catholic woman who mastered the art of a brutal movie review
Over 27 years beginning in 1947, Moira Walsh wrote over 750 movie reviews for America—each one possessed of an invincible authorial voice and informed by an encyclopedic knowledge of film history.
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The America editor who ruined nuclear fallout shelters forever
Why don’t we have fallout shelters anymore? It’s a long story, but an editor at America had something to do with it.
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Catholic Book Club: The interstellar Jesuit spirituality of Mary Doria Russell’s ‘The Sparrow’
With ‘The Sparrow,’ Mary Doria Russell imagines an alien world in intimate and fascinating detail—and then sends along some humans with deep questions about faith, God and the universe.
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‘The destroyer of worlds’: 75 years of ‘America’ on Oppenheimer
A new movie treats the life of Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb”—and someone whose exploits and commentaries received much treatment in ‘America’ over the years.
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Why so many Jesuit characters in sci-fi? Because the genre deals with God and the problem of evil.
When we think of science fiction, lasers and aliens might come to mind first—but it is also a genre in which religious imagination plays a role.
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Francis Talbot, S.J., the world’s spiciest Catholic editor
Francis X. Talbot, S.J., was for many years America’s literary editor, and later its editor in chief. He was also a saucy literary stylist who loved nothing more than a good argument.