Article The Inimitable Orwell “Politics and the English Language” remains an important essay, but we have done it a great disservice by turning it into a dusty school assignment. By John Rodden June 30, 2021 Education Nonfiction
Article Braced for Disappointment Tove Ditlevsen’s memoirs catalogue many relationships, but only one love affair: with narcotics. By Robert Rubsam June 24, 2021 Books Nonfiction Death and Dying
Article Religion Booknotes New theological books include titles about Raymond E. Brown, Communion and Liberation, and St. Teresa of Avila By Luke Timothy Johnson June 23, 2021 Books Religion
Article Love, Actively As Dostoevsky sees it, divine grace enables humans to perform the work of justice: helping the weak and confronting the powerful. By Paul J. Contino June 22, 2021 Fiction Spirituality The Last Word
Article Connecting the Dots Documenting the art and culture produced during the first decades of the Cold War By John T. McGreevy June 20, 2021 Culture Books Media
Article Aesthetic Transfiguration Francisco Goldman’s autofiction considers the moral and aesthetic demands of both the real and imagined. By Anthony Domestico June 16, 2021 Books
Article Opening Credits Reading celebrated director Billy Wilder’s journalism is like glimpsing the percolating brain of the genius to come. By Helene Stapinski June 9, 2021 Books Movies Nonfiction
Article A Mystic for Moderns Caryll Houselander drew on her artistic sense and keen observation of suffering to develop a spirituality of Christocentric compassion. By Joshua P. Hochschild June 7, 2021 Books Spirituality
Article The Good Son The 2020 Booker Prize–winning novel possesses a redemptive quality that rises above its episodes of negligence, anger, and sectarianism. By Diane Scharper June 6, 2021 Books Fiction
Article Beyond the Gummed Labels Fault lines between Secularists and Religionists in America help define partisan politics. By Kenneth L. Woodward June 4, 2021 Secularism and Modernity Nonfiction U.S. Catholicism
Article Captives of Habit A new introduction to William James illuminates his philosophy and struggles with mental health. By Gordon Marino May 23, 2021 Books Philosophy
Article Diversity & Division A new book explores how U.S. Catholic history can provide perspective and hope for the present moment. By Julia G. Young May 22, 2021 Books Religion History
Article Patients, Not Problems The American penal system is deeply dysfunctional, particularly in its treatment of the mentally ill. By Derek S. Jeffreys May 18, 2021 Nonfiction Social Justice
Article Disqualifying Isms All publishing companies draw a line. But who, exactly, gets to draw it? By Peter Steinfels May 14, 2021 Books Domestic Affairs Election 2020
Article Frightening Babble Don’t underestimate Don DeLillo. By Phil Christman May 12, 2021 Books Fiction
Article Priesthood, Reimagined A nuanced portrait of the lives and worship spaces of womanpriests By Mary Kate Holman May 5, 2021 Books Women in the Church
Article Near Misses In Rachel Cusk’s eleventh novel, questions about art, creativity, and freedom have elusive answers. By Kate Lucky May 4, 2021 Fiction Gender
Article A Serious Man Charles Péguy’s writing rethought the very terms available to describe experience, the visible and vanishing foundations of living. By Jack Hanson May 3, 2021 Philosophy Nonfiction Book Essay
Article Pattern & Novelty From Michael Robbins and Hannah Sullivan, grown-up poetry and poetry about growing up. By Anthony Domestico April 30, 2021 Poetry
Article Creating Time Poetry exploring the lyric now: not thought, but thinking; not lived, but living. By Anthony Domestico April 23, 2021 Poetry Books
Article The Beauty of the Incomprehensible In her new book, Karen Kilby leads even a lay reader through theoretical thickets with a gentle and steady hand. By Paul Baumann April 20, 2021 Theology Books
Article A Hybrid Voice For the novelist Xiaolu Guo, telling stories in English is an ongoing project to capture a life lived across China, Europe, and the United States. By Melody S. Gee April 18, 2021 Fiction Asia
Article Celebration & Lamentation Celebrating community and rootedness through poetry By Anthony Domestico April 16, 2021 Poetry Race
Article What Happens Next? Lauren Oyler’s new novel is a knowing and hilariously bleak model for our internet age. By Jacob Bacharach April 15, 2021 Media Fiction
Article The Long, Withdrawing Roar A new book charts the decline of religion in America. By Bernard G. Prusak April 12, 2021 Secularism and Modernity U.S. Catholicism Joe Biden
Article Understanding, Not Ultimatums Continuing the conversation about sex and gender By Daniel Walden April 11, 2021 Sexuality Gender LGBTQ issues
Article The Gentle Light That Vanishes and Returns Against the epic forces of history, the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski emphasized little privacies. By Morten Høi Jensen April 10, 2021 Poetry War and Peace Social Justice
Article ‘Justly Responsive’ “Every time I read Donoghue, I knew I was reading the work of a master.” By Anthony Domestico April 9, 2021 Books Literature
Article The House of Merrill Letters from James Merrill and verse from poets who follow him, all exploring arcana with surprising rhymes and intricate musicality. By Anthony Domestico April 9, 2021 Poetry
Article National Poetry Month April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate, we’re collecting poems and writings about poetry, with new additions by our literary critic every Friday. By The Editors April 7, 2021 Poetry
Article Torments & Frenzies Graham Greene’s life is both more interesting and more nuanced than the New Yorker appears to believe. By Paul Baumann March 31, 2021 biography Media
Article Hope for Suffering Souls Kirstin Valdez Quade’s new novel centers around the radical promise of the Crucifixion. By Valerie Sayers March 30, 2021 Fiction Latin America U.S. Catholicism
Article ‘A Playwright of Ideas’ A new biography of Tom Stoppard explores the charmed life of a generous, talented writer. By Anthony Domestico March 18, 2021 biography Arts Media
Article Excavating the Future Mike Davis has always been a student of the future. 2020 was the year his predictions came true. By John Thomason March 15, 2021 Books Coronavirus
Article An Uncommon Tendency At the London Review of Books, Mary-Kay Wilmers discovered her rhythm as an author, and helped others discover theirs as an editor. By Anthony Domestico March 14, 2021 Media Books
Article Becoming the Church We Say We Are How can we build a Catholic Church that cares about racial equality and acknowledges the work of the Black Lives Matter movement? By John Gehring March 12, 2021 Race U.S. Catholicism Nonfiction Bishops
Article A Happy Contrarian A new collection of interviews with René Girard offers insight into the complexity of his ideas and the process through which he came to them. By Costica Bradatan March 12, 2021 Philosophy Nonfiction
Article Refounding Chicago How Chicago’s neighborhoods and parishes have been shaped and reshaped by the contributions of Mexican-American Catholics By Milton Javier Bravo March 4, 2021 Latin America U.S. Catholicism Nonfiction
Article The Extremely Online Mind Patricia Lockwood’s new novel explores life, neither online nor offline, but simply with the internet. By Katie Daniels March 3, 2021 Media Books
Article Sorry for Your Loss Paul J. Griffiths’s latest book focuses on regret and repentance. By Jonathan Malesic February 27, 2021 Theology Books
Article Books in Brief This month, our editors are reading about building a society that correctly values labor and human dignity, and about the Catholicism of Joe Biden. By The Editors February 24, 2021 Books in Brief Nonfiction
Article Self & Style Finding the right words for an experience allows a memoirist to win a fragile victory over it. By Anthony Domestico February 23, 2021 Nonfiction Books
Article The Pascal of the North A philosopher’s lifelong meditation on faith By Gordon Marino February 14, 2021 Philosophy Theology Books
Article ‘The Miracle of Everything’ Living with a rare heart condition led Gabriel Brownstein to chart the advances in coronary medicine over the centuries. By Rand Richards Cooper February 12, 2021 Science Nonfiction Technology Health Care
Article On Papal Populism Pope Francis’s new book offers a vision for a politics rooted in solidarity. By Austen Ivereigh February 7, 2021 Pope Francis Social Justice Economy
Article Servant of Memory Remembering the remarkable storyteller, Barry Lopez By Griffin Oleynick February 5, 2021 Interview Environment Nonfiction Travel
Article Listen Humbly, Argue Lovingly Being Christian means that no debate ever gives us an excuse to abandon the commandment to love, no matter how much we may disagree with someone. By Burke Nixon February 4, 2021 Books Domestic Affairs
Article The Past Catches up with Postmodernism How to write postmodern fiction about a world gone postmodern? By Adam Fleming Petty February 3, 2021 Fiction Politics
Article Cicero Will Outlive Your Tweets Why a “dead” language lives on By Charles McNamara January 18, 2021 Literature
Article Theological Resistance A new book explores how to build a “theological resistance” when political resistance is futile. By Marcia Pally January 16, 2021 Philosophy Literature
