There is joy and heartbreak in Father Charles Strobel’s memoir, ‘The Kingdom of the Poor,’ but mostly joy.
Literature
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Tara Isabella Burton’s fairy tale for grownups
If what we need now is the kind of story that restores wonder to the world, Tara Isabella Burton’s ‘Here in Avalon’ provides one avenue to that destination.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
‘The Great Gatsby’ got a bad review in America. A century later, how do we see F. Scott Fitzgerald?
F. Scott Fitzgerald was not a favorite of America’s editors for many years, but they all read ‘Gatsby.’ Everyone reads ‘Gatsby.’
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Seven decades in the classroom: The teaching legacy of Ladislas Orsy, S.J.
In a long life as a priest, teacher and scholar, Ladislas Orsy, S.J., left an impressive legacy at his death last week at the age of 103.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
‘Only baseball and love are eternal.’ Reflections on our national pastime
Sports hasn’t always been the most popular topic among America’s editors and contributors—unless it was the Grand Old Game, baseball.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Earl Weaver and baseball’s balance between stories and statistics
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.
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, 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?