'American Mother,' Diane Foley's and Colum McCann's story of Foley’s life and that of her son, James Foley, is written with a mother’s love, her eventual understanding of hostage situations and her desire for others to understand the struggle she faced.

I was delighted recently to discover that three of my favorite authors, all from extremely different backgrounds and perspectives, have written three extremely different books on aging. Yet even with their differences, they agree on the big points.

Doris Kearns Goodwin's "An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s" centers on the unique history found by going through her and her husband Dick Goodwin’s boxes of writings and memorabilia from his five-decade career in American politics.

By centering the voices and experiences of Latina/o sanctuary leaders in " Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities," Gina M. Pérez presents sanctuary as both a sacred and secular reality.

In "The Gospel of Peace," the Rev. John Dear embarks on a kind of spiritual experiment: interpreting the three synoptic Gospels through the lens of nonviolent activism and uncovering connections between first-century Judea and modern-day America.

In her new book, "The Mystics Would Like a Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today," Shannon K. Evans beautifully articulates how the spirituality developed by women mystics still inspires and applies to us today.