Arts & Letters
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Please Write This Novel
It may be presumptuous to suggest premises for novels (“Oh, somebody should write X,” which seems to…
Books for Christmas—2019
Resist the twitterization of thought—give books for Christmas! The following titles will delight, instruct, edify (or all…
Christmas Guide to Buying a Bible: 2019 Edition
In 2012, First Things asked me to suggest Bibles to give as gifts during the Christmas season.…
A Year of Reading: 2019
I’ve been doing this annual list for twenty years, and it has taken on a ritual quality.…
The Poets’ Favorite Season
One day in 1956, a poet was sitting at his desk, thinking back eighteen years. On an…
Coming Attractions for 2020
As I did last November, I want to tell you about a handful of books I’m particularly…
Defining “Evangelical”
Who Is an Evangelical?: The History of a Movement in Crisisby thomas s. kiddyale, 200 pages, $26…
On Wounded Shepherds
Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and His Struggle to Convert the Catholic Churchby austen ivereighhenry holt and co., 416…
All About Evangelicals
Lately I’ve been rereading and (with Wendy) listening to the stories collected in G. K. Chesterton’s The…
Fermata
Let us go then, up the long stairs and down the hall,Through…
Don’t See Joker
Don’t see the new Joker film, directed by Todd Phillips and starring an Oscar-starved Joaquin Phoenix. I…
Why You Should Read Peter Handke
As always, I’m writing for anyone willing to take the time to read. But in this instance,…
Houellebecq and the Death of Europe
Serotonin: A Novelby michel houellebecqfarrar, straus and giroux, 320 pages, $27 Europe is old, decrepit, and suffering…
Historical Clarity and Today’s Catholic Contentions
One of the curiosities of the 21st-century Catholic debate is that many Catholic traditionalists (especially integralists) and…
God, Country, Notre Dame
On September 27, the Sheen Center in Manhattan hosted an event with Father Wilson Miscamble, C.S.C., author…
