In ‘The Last Manager,’ John W. Miller marries stories and statistics in a fascinating account of the life of Earl Weaver, the diminutive, cantankerous skipper who is the winningest manager since the moon landing.
Books
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Charles Taylor on how poetry expresses our deepest yearnings
In ‘Cosmic Connections,’ Charles Taylor focuses on how art, and poetry in particular, both expresses and responds to the unique human experience of “being modern.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
A superhero’s Catholic identity: Faith, vocation and absolution in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’
“Daredevil: Born Again” has now launched on Disney+, and the show features a lead character whose faith is a central element to his identity.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
A March Madness to remember: The St. Joseph’s Hawks’ 2004 N.C.A.A. run
In 2004, the St. Joseph’s University men’s basketball team made a long run in the N.C.A.A. tournament, falling just short of the Final Four. This excerpt from Aaron Bracy’s ‘A Soaring Season’ tells part of that thrilling story.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
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.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Flannery O’Connor at 100: What would the Catholic author have to say in 2025?
One wonders: If the “red wolf” of lupus had not ended Flannery O’Connor’s life at age 39, what would the author be writing about in 2025? What might she think of what was being written about her?
Posted inFaith, Last Take
R.I.P. Roger Freet, a man responsible for some of your favorite Catholic books
Some of your favorite books by Christian authors came to be because of the careful and loving assistance of Roger Freet, the editor and literary agent who died on March 18.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
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, Books
Review: Percival Everett revisits Huck Finn
In his 2024 National Book Award-winning novel, ‘James,’ Percival Everett grapples with philosophical and metaphysical questions as well as racial issues, while enveloping all in sarcasm and irony.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Masked man: Al Jolson and the politics of performance
Richard Bernstein tackles difficult topics in his short study of an extraordinary entertainer, Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson in Lithuania in 1886), and a profoundly important movie—and not just because “The Jazz Singer” is recognized as the “first talkie.”