John Kennedy Toole’s only novel was published after his death—but quickly became a classic of American comic fiction.
Catholic Book Club
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Alice McDermott and the Brooklyn Irish Catholic community that inspired her writing
In her eight novels and many short stories, Alice McDermott has brought a distinctly Catholic imagination to her fiction—but not in the same way as her forebears.
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The greatest American Jesuit you’ve probably never heard of
One of the great Catholic thinkers of 20th-century America is too often overlooked: William F. Lynch, S.J.
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Lessons from John Courtney Murray for a country divided on abortion—and just about everything else
Noted primarily for his work on religious liberty, John Courtney Murray, S.J., provided much of the basis for theological and political reflection on the relationship between church and state on these shores through his voluminous writings.
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Andre Dubus on prayer and parental love
Andre Dubus wrote short stories and novellas about the brutal truths and miraculous moments in life—and more than a few dealt with the joys and sorrows of fatherhood.
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A man for all seasons: Fay Vincent, baseball and America
When Fay Vincent Jr. resigned as the commissioner of Major League Baseball, he turned to the pages of “America” in his effort “to try to put all of the current mess in perspective.”
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Theophilus Lewis: A Black Catholic convert who brought the Harlem Renaissance to the pages of ‘America’
Theophilus Lewis wrote hundreds of theater reviews for “America,” though he got his start as a critic for a magazine central to the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.
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Jon Hassler put Catholics’ complicated fear around Vatican II into his novels
Jon Hassler wrote novels that examined with infinite compassion the lives of the residents of small-town Minnesota.
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Larry Woiwode: farmer, author, Christian sage
For his novels, memoirs, biographies and collections of short stories and poetry, Larry Woiwode is considered by some critics to be one of the greatest American authors of the 20th century.
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Mike Davis, Los Angeles and the sins of capitalism
For more than three decades, Mike Davis has offered clear and often stinging counterpoints to the prevailing vision of the “California Dream.”