A literary spat between ‘America’ and William F. Buckley 65 years ago is proving to have been eerily proleptic in light of Mr. Trump’s war of words against the pope and the latter’s assertion of church teaching on just war.
Literature
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Review: Three books on the confusing, complex world of American politics
Three authors explore the American political landscape and offer provocative ideas on how to fix it—and if it is worth saving.
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Review: A descent into the soul
Andrew Krivak’s ‘Mule Boy’ explores depths and recesses he has invited readers to probe before.
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Review: Confronting the Christian classics
Rebecca Bratten Weiss’s ‘The Books That Made Us’ asks: What are we to do when we realize the art that formed us is, perhaps, problematic?
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Review: Christopher Beha’s journey of belief
Christopher Beha’s ‘Why I Am Not an Atheist’ recounts decades of seeking through reading, trying to find the shape of a meaningful, sustainable worldview without God.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
25 years later, ‘Nickel and Dimed’ is as relevant as ever.
Between spring 1998 and summer 2000, Barbara Ehrenreich took jobs that paid minimum wage or slightly above in Florida, Maine and Minnesota. What she detailed was a world of people living on a financial razor’s edge, unable to afford healthy food or decent housing, but still holding down two and three jobs to try to make ends meet.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
What photos from the Artemis II astronauts say to us in a time of war
Maybe today—tonight—we should all take another look at “Earthset.” We need to feel anew a sense of identification with humankind and the planet as a whole.
Posted inCatholic Book Club
Tracy Kidder, biographer of a broken world’s ordinary heroes
Tracy Kidder, who died last week at the age 80, wrote on everything from true crime to computer design to retirement homes to genocide to Vietnam to pioneering figures in the world of medicine. He also told stories of hope and inspiration in several of his books, including the monumental ‘Mountains Beyond Mountains.’
Posted inCatholic Book Club
‘Your homework is to tell someone you love them today’: Colman McCarthy’s lessons in peace
Colman McCarthy, who died on Feb. 27 at the age of 87, had a well-deserved reputation for seeking out the underdogs in life—as well as for his determined lifelong stands against war, capital punishment, homelessness and the other seamy sides of contemporary capitalism.
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Review: Thomas More, God’s good servant
Joanne Paul wrote her powerful and considerable biography of Thomas More because she finds More’s life relevant to today’s world. But the book also addresses another question: Was More a saintly martyr or a vicious murderer?