John Fante’s fiction depicted Los Angeles through a penetrating, panoramic gaze—and anticipated the rise of the Beats in American literature.
Literature
Posted inArts & Culture, Interviews
Interview: Colm Tóibín on ‘Long Island,’ sequel-writing and the delight of a Costco chicken
Colm Tóibín’s new novel, ‘Long Island,’ is a sequel to perhaps his best-known book, ‘Brooklyn.’ What was it like to take up the story again two decades later? He tells us in this interview with America.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Martyrs for the earth
In ‘Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for Our Common Home,’ Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo invites us to look carefully at the lives of modern ecomartyrs as a guide to help us “re-imagine and re-embody the relationship between human beings and the earth.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Debunking marriage myths
Why would you get married? In his new book, ‘Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization,’ Brad Wilcox argues that civilization itself depends upon convincing more Americans to tie the knot.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Paul Horgan, the Catholic polymath you’ve never heard of
Paul Horgan was a favorite of critics for his fiction and non-fiction alike during his long life—but his work deserves greater appreciation today.
Posted inArts & Culture, Vantage Point
Writing advice from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Horgan
When novelist/historian Paul Horgan was honored with America Media’s Campion Award in 1957, he reflected on the process of creative writing—something the two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize knew a thing or two about.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: New book challenges the ‘villainous’ image of the Vatican Curia
The Vatican Curia is a mystery, but it need not be a shadowy mystery. Anthony Ekpo’s ‘The Roman Curia: History, Theology and Organization’ contributes greatly to our understanding of the structures and organization of the Curia.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Remembering Edward Schillebeeckx: the theologian working from the shadows of Vatican II
Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., wasn’t officially a ‘peritus’ at the Second Vatican Council, but that didn’t stop him from having a powerful influence on the council and on church theology for decades afterward.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Falling out of love with ideology during election season
Jason Blakely’s new book, “Lost in Ideology,” is “quite simply the best guide to today’s dominant ideologies,” writes William Cavanaugh. “Blakely is concise, sympathetic, insightful, critical and fair.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
‘If we don’t get Jesus right, we won’t get the church right’: The life and teaching of Gerald O’Collins, S.J.
Gerald O’Collins, S.J., the Australian Jesuit theologian who died last week, was a prominent writer in Christology, ecclesiology, spirituality and more in an academic career that spanned seven decades.