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.
Catholic Book Club
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Why today’s students should read James Baldwin in school
James Baldwin’s novels and essays loomed large in the 1950s and 1960s, but they have fallen out of favor with teachers in many literature courses. Is it time for a revival of his works?
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Cormac McCarthy’s Catholic visions of sin
Was Cormac McCarthy our greatest American novelist? Or did he take his readers to darker places than many of them wanted to go?
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Jesuit Roger Haight’s lifetime of theological achievement
Roger Haight, S.J., was honored by the Catholic Theological Society of America this past weekend in Milwaukee for his contributions to academic theology and the church, a well-deserved tribute to a scholar who has endured much for his vocation as a theologian.
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Vatican II’s secret priest-journalist: The story of Xavier Rynne
Much of the story of the Second Vatican Council was first told to Americans by Xavier Rynne in The New Yorker. But who was Rynne?
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Joyce Kilmer: soldier, writer and lost voice in the American Catholic literary revival
Among the 53,000 Americans killed in World War I was Joyce Kilmer, a distinguished poet and essayist who died in battle at the age of 31.
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What Dorothy Day had to say about Dolores Huerta and the struggle for worker justice
A worker’s advocate, feminist leader and civil rights proponent whose work continues today at the age of 93, Dolores Huerta was an under-recognized leader.
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César Chávez’s life of prophetic action
The combination of religious faith and prophetic political action that marked César Chávez’s hunger strikes would become typical of many other moments in his long career as a labor organizer turned American icon.
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The mystery of Thomas Merton’s death—and the witness of America magazine’s poetry editor
John Moffitt, the longtime poetry editor of ‘America,’ met Thomas Merton the week Merton died, and wrote of the account for ‘America.’
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The unexpected connection between J. D. Salinger, Swami Vivekananda and the poetry editor of America magazine
John Moffitt, the poetry editor of America, was also a regular correspondent with everyone from famous Hindu swamis to J. D. Salinger to Thomas Merton.