John Gregory Dunne had a unique ability in his writing—fiction or not—to show the saintly and the sinner all at once.
Literature
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Why we miss Tom Wolfe in the Trump-Biden era
Tom Wolfe would have loved to write about a debate between a billionaire former president who is also a convicted felon and an octogenarian sitting president whose public mental lapses are vociferously denied by many of his own confidantes.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: St. Augustine in dialogue with the 21st century
In her new book, ‘(R)evolutionary Hope: A Spirituality of Encounter and Engagement in an Evolving World,’ Kathleen Bonnette has brought St. Augustine’s philosophy into dialogue with 21st-century reality in ways that would impress even modern mindfulness gurus and internet pundits.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: What we’re talking about when we talk about ‘Western Civilization’
In ‘The West,’ Naoíse Mac Sweeney tackles the history of the idea of the West through 14 portraits of both famous (Herodotus and Gladstone) and lesser-known historical figures (Phillis Wheatley and Tullia d’Aragona).
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Judith Butler and the seismic shift in how we understand gender
In ‘Who’s Afraid of Gender?,’ Judith Butler contends that the contemporary backlash to “gender” is an attempt to recapture the transforming power structure and return to the (days when it was simple to use gender to organize power in the world.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Theology and sexual trauma
In ‘Incarnating Grace: A Theology of Healing From Sexual Trauma,’ Julia Feder is not only concerned with rejecting dangerous theological projects that have misled (and mistreated) survivors; she is also keen to plumb the depths of the Christian tradition more positively, for resources that offer meaning, courage and hope.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
The genius of James Joyce: Sin, guilt and the redemptive power of laughter
For James Joyce, humanity’s faulty condition “is happy because faults, errors, mistakes and misunderstandings” are the birth of comedy, writes Gabrielle Carey in a new biography.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Augustine, Tolstoy and Sally Rooney: 15 summer reading recs for the beach and the nightstand
Some suggestions from the staff of America for summer reading: books old and new, long and short, funny and sad.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
How Jürgen Moltmann’s ‘theology of hope’ inspired liberation theology
Jürgen Moltmann’s influence on theology extended far beyond his native Germany or his religious denomination. His “theology of hope” influenced everything from liberation theology to contemporary politics.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Ethan Hawke on Faith, Imagination and Flannery O’Connor
Ethan Hawke on exploring religious questions through art and his new film, “Wildcat,” about the Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor.