Of Many Things
A literary garden: Welcome to Fall Books 2021
Twice a year we publish an extra issue of America dedicated to books and all things literary; one in planting season and one at harvest time.
Features
Is this Christian poet Russia’s next Nobel laureate?
A profoundly Russian author, Olga Sedakova offers insights into Christian living for a worldwide audience.
Why has Mississippi inspired so many great writers?
Though a small state in terms of geographic size and population, Mississippi occupies an outsized place in the world of American letters. Why? How has “a little state that rests alongside the banks of a great and mighty river” made so many significant contributions to American literature?
Books
The grace of a good priest: Neil Connolly and the South Bronx’s resurrection story
Angel Garcia tells the story of the Rev. Neil Connolly, a priest with a deep faith in his parishioners, who carried their faith from the mountains of Puerto Rico to the streets of the Bronx.
Review: Has the Catholic Church in Ireland learned anything from the testimonies of abuse survivors?
In his portrait of a once ultra-devout country undergoing rapid spiritual decline, Derek Scally paints a vivid picture of Irish indifference toward the church.
Review: Fame, fortune and falls from grace in the 1960s music scene
In his new book, British novelist David Mitchell affirms the irreducible and vivifying goods of the human soul.
Edgar Allan Poe, scientific pioneer?
To understand the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe demands close attention to his engagements with scientific thought and discoveries.
Pope Francis, Virgil and the global economy
Mark Carney’s new book makes a succinct argument: We can either continue on the current path of what some argue is amoral wealth generation in a dehumanizing market society, or we can build new systems, grounded in common values, that encourage growth while stewarding resources for future generations.
Remember your favorite childhood books? Read them again.
Why do most people stop reading children’s books they loved once they come of age? Books from our childhood can still do so much good work for us.
Flannery O’Connor shows us how to experience God in the midst of upheaval
The relationship between dominant and marginalized characters throughout O’Connor’s body of work offers a theology of displacement—that is, a means of experiencing God in the midst of upheaval, geographic and otherwise.
What would happen if Jesus ran for president? Roland Merullo’s writing explores this provocative question (and others)
In more than two dozen novels, memoirs, travelogues and other writings, the Massachusetts writer Roland Merullo has proved to be an astute observer of the human condition.
Poetry
Eviction— Paterson, 2020
This man, this woman are the city
Under Sail
To hear what sirens was Jesus Christ nailed to a tree, unable to move?
Last Take
Saints and sinners alike: My Catholic upbringing in Las Vegas
I have spent my entire career attempting to pay homage to (and in a deeper sense, to keep alive) all the incredible characters of my Catholic-kid-in-Las Vegas life.
Catholic Book Club
What has the Catholic Book Club been reading recently? Novels.
The two most recent selections for the Catholic Book Club were novels that originally began as short stories.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts