New and selected stories from Tobias Wolff, reviewed

By all accounts the poet Robert Frost 1874-1963 was a difficult man moody contrary competitive exacting Not one would have thought a sympathetic subject for a novel It is all the more miraculous then that Brian Hall rsquo s biographical novel mdash historical novel really mdash weaves

If Robert Satloff rsquo s recent book Among the Righteous Lost Stories From the Holocaust rsquo s Long Reach Into Arab Lands 2006 offers a freshly conceived if ultimately stark investigation into the archive of small kindnesses shown the occasional Jew during the Second World War Mimi Schwar

What is the proper role of an ex-president Should he retire to enjoy his newfound freedom from public life write his memoirs and perhaps attend official functions as might be asked of him Most former presidents have done just that Presently we have three living ex-presidents in the United Stat

Sometimes the irony is so close it is difficult to see My friend Andrew Sullivan heads his blog with a quote from George Orwell To see what is in front of one s nose needs a constant struggle And as often as not the irony is in the words themselves Catholic is a word with a meaning

Hillary Clinton said last night that the road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue leads through Pennsylvania But for the next few weeks the road from Pennsylvania leads to electoral purgatory Clinton can t win the nomination unless she so bloodies Barack Obama that the super-delegates and the voters

As Michael Corleone once said every time he tries to get out they pull him back in Fr Jim Martin SJ will be Stephen Colbert s first guest tonight on the Colbert Report Comedy Central 11 30pm Eastern Time discussing the papal visit You may have seen Jim on television once or twice th

Exploring new forms of pastoral leadership

The outcome of Zimbabwe’s presidential election on March 29 has remained uncertain for two weeks, amid signs of manipulation by President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party. Underscoring these signs was the arrest of several foreign journalists on April 4 on the trumped-up charge of pr

Bishops Urge Bill to Protect Farm Workers Expressing “deep concern for the men and women” who labor in the fields of southwestern Arizona and northern Mexico, the bishops of Tucson, Ariz., and Mexicali, Mexico, have issued a joint statement calling for legislation to end “exploitat