William Kennedy did for his hometown what Joyce did for Dublin, what Bellow did for Chicago, what Faulkner did for his fictional Yoknapatawpha County. He became the bard of a particular time and place and, through it, continues to explore universal themes.
Books
Posted inCatholic Book Club
‘Lumen Gentium’: The master work of Vatican II
Some of the most resonant and memorable phrases of Vatican II come from “Lumen Gentium,” including the description of the church as the people of God.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The drama of Dostoyevsky
Józef Tischner remains virtually unknown in Western classrooms, despite being one of the pre-eminent voices in 20th-century Catholic thought. The new edition of ‘The Philosophy of Drama’ in English might help change that.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Chris Hayes on the war for our attention
In his new book, Chris Hayes argues that our attention is not just the most fundamental human need; it is also our most important resource.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The moral authority of John Lewis
David Greenberg has produced a biography of John Lewis that, if not quite definitive, is still the gold standard by which all subsequent biographies will be judged.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: A first look at an intriguing new pope
Christopher White’s ‘Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy’ presents readers with a substantive, engaging portrait of where things stand right now in a church, and a world, increasingly marked by polarization, authoritarianism and violence.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Michael Harrington, the ‘pious apostate’ who championed socialism in America
Michael Harrington was America’s much-needed conscience on issues of poverty in the 1960s and later.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Catholic militants in the present day
In ‘Catholic Fundamentalism in America,’ Mark Massa, S.J., describes the birth and growth of Catholic fundamentalism over the past six decades.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
An editor’s editor: Walter Abbott, S.J., and the documents of Vatican II
Though ‘The Documents of Vatican II’ remains Walter Abbott’s signature achievement in the eyes of many Catholics, the publication was just one moment in a lifetime of notable work on behalf of the church and the world in fields ranging from Scripture, ecumenism, racial justice and spirituality.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
An ongoing reckoning with anti-Semitism: 60 years since ‘Nostra Aetate’
60 years ago next week, “Nostra Aetate” was promulgated, marking a definitive change in the church’s approach toward the Jewish people and its own history.