Bernd Roeck traces the roots of the Renaissance as far back as the sixth millennium BCE. His long view of history explores the “why” of Western culture’s success.
Among twentieth-century British artists, there seemed to be a mad rush to Rome. A new book endeavors to explain this explosion in Catholic conversions.
In fiction and nonfiction by Black American Catholics, the parochial school looms large as a place of education, formation, and conversion—for good or ill.
When literature was still recognized as an incomparable source of liberty and dignity to millions, the CIA spent decades distributing banned books behind the Iron Curtain.
Hosts and 'Commonweal' contributors Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins and Nick Tabor chat with professor and author Jonathan Sheehan about the history of sacrifice, from the sacred to the secular.
‘The Magic Mountain’ testifies to the power of art to transform life. But before he could complete his masterwork, Thomas Mann had to transform himself.
Mark Hlavacik’s new book on the history of education culture wars says little about schools, and almost nothing about the people who teach and learn there.
Donald Trump bears an uncanny resemblance to Rex Mottram, the businessman and opportunistic British politician in Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited.’
Our most-read pieces of the year—from the legacy of Pope Francis and the start of Leo's papacy to mass deportation and the Catholic response, and much, much more.
I’ll be binge-reading Jane Austen again this winter, in honor of her 250th birthday. Few novelists of any era offer as much perception, delight, and insight on every page.
During an anxious Christmas season, if the ground starts to give beneath our feet, we might cleave to the hope that there will be someone close at hand to listen.
'Marce Catlett' seeks to reclaim an enduring notion of prosperity through a fictionalized account of real Berry family history—and real American history.
