It is not an exaggeration to say that between 1940 and 1980, the author and critic Riley Hughes reviewed well over 1,000 books for different Catholic magazines.
Catholic Book Club
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
The history (and future) of covering conclaves
‘America’ is covering its 10th papal conclave this week—and while the technology has changed, the content remains much the same.
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Remembering Peru’s literary master, Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa’s long literary life established him as a monumental figure in Spanish-language literature and Latin American history.
![20160811T1325-1001-CNS-POPE-SYRIAN-REFUGEES [web]](https://i0.wp.com/www.americamagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20160811T1325-1001-CNS-POPE-SYRIAN-REFUGEES-web.jpg-388895.jpg?resize=770%2C480&ssl=1)
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Pope Francis the bookworm
Pope Francis was a great lover of literature: He peppered his homilies, talks and even encyclicals with literary references from Dostoyevsky, Proust, Hopkins, Dante and more, and he also encouraged his flock to read broadly and often.
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‘The Great Gatsby’ got a bad review in America. A century later, how do we see F. Scott Fitzgerald?
F. Scott Fitzgerald was not a favorite of America’s editors for many years, but they all read ‘Gatsby.’ Everyone reads ‘Gatsby.’
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Seven decades in the classroom: The teaching legacy of Ladislas Orsy, S.J.
In a long life as a priest, teacher and scholar, Ladislas Orsy, S.J., left an impressive legacy at his death last week at the age of 103.
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‘Only baseball and love are eternal.’ Reflections on our national pastime
Sports hasn’t always been the most popular topic among America’s editors and contributors—unless it was the Grand Old Game, baseball.
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Remembering Flannery O’Connor (and her contributions to America magazine) on her 100th birthday
Perhaps no author’s name has appeared in ‘America’ more often than Flannery O’Connor’s over the years, from a 1956 editorial through to a story just last week.
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Author Pat Conroy’s message for struggling Catholics: ‘I left the Church but she has not left me.’
Pat Conroy was the epitome of the “Southern Writer” for many years and called by some “the most beloved American writer of his generation”—and was also a God-haunted Catholic who wrote often and deeply about religious faith.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Catherine Mowry LaCugna’s feminist theology of the Trinity inspired a generation
Catherine Mowry LaCugna, who died in 1997 at only 44 years of age, brought new life to Trinitarian theology and inspired a generation of scholars.