George W. Hunt, S.J., editor in chief of America from 1984 to 1998, wrote about some of our nation’s most famous authors. But he was a gifted writer himself, as seen in his many Christmas essays for the magazine.
Catholic Book Club
Colm Tóibín’s new collection explores growing up gay in Ireland, surviving cancer and the Irish’s love/hate relationship with the Catholic Church
Fans of Colm Tóibín will no doubt be pleased at the news that he has a new book of essays coming out.
The four martyred churchwomen of El Salvador dare us to be saints
More than four decades after their murders, the four churchwomen of El Salvador remain powerful examples of faith and commitment to the Gospel.
A Washington insider with an eye for the outsiders: Mary McGrory
In a 50-year career as a columnist, Mary McGrory wrote some of the most prescient political journalism around—including for America.
Incarnational Catholic literature: The fiction of Kirstin Valdez Quade
The characters of Kirstin Valdez Quade’s stories often find grace to be just out of reach—but they still pursue it.
Remembering priest and historian Thomas Shelley: ‘an intellectual who wished the church were more intellectual’
The Rev. Thomas J. Shelley, who died on Monday, taught generations of priests, men and women religious and lay scholars the ins and outs of Catholic history.
Christopher Lasch: the critic of American life beloved by traditionalist Catholics and Marxists alike
Christopher Lasch’s writings are cited by everyone from the most fervent cultural conservatives to dyed-in-the-wool Marxists—and he had much to say about modern American culture.
When the (books about) saints go marching in
All Saints Day is a day to venerate holy men and women—and also to recognize the saints in our midst, complicated though they might be.
A Catholic guide to Halloween reading
From Edgar Allan Poe to Dean Koontz to Flannery O’Connor, America’s editors and contributors are not (always) afraid of some horror.
The spiritual depths of Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison’s fiction conveyed much of the pain, sacrifice and trauma that exemplifies so much of the African-American experience—which is why it makes some white readers uncomfortable.
