Only the Lover Writes

Only the Lover Writes

Contemplative Realism: A Theological-Aesthetical Manifesto by Joshua Hren. Benedict XVI Institute, 2022. Hardcover, 65 pages, $13. Reviewed by John-Paul Heil Transcontinental voyages provide fecund soil for the seeds of self-reflection. On one such journey, returning...
The Odyssey of ‘The Godfather’

The Odyssey of ‘The Godfather’

Leave The Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of the Godfather By Mark Seal. Gallery Books, 2021. Hardback, 448 pages, $29. Reviewed by Paul Krause I believe in the Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is, possibly, my favorite film. I say...
Americanism and the ‘Roman’ Catholic

Americanism and the ‘Roman’ Catholic

American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War by D. G. Hart. Cornell University Press, 2020. Hardback, 280 pages, $29.95 Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl In 1864, Pope Pius IX issued Syllabus Errorum, outlining heresies opposed to Catholic Church...
Writing, Teaching, Virtues

Writing, Teaching, Virtues

On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts by William Germano. University of Chicago Press, 2021. Paperback, 208 pages, $20. Reviewed by David Hein William Germano, a seasoned teacher and writer who has served as editor-in-chief at Columbia University Press and...
Education as a Moral Enterprise

Education as a Moral Enterprise

McGuffey and His Readers: Piety, Morality, and Education in Nineteenth-Century America by John H. Westerhoff III. Abingdon, 1978. Hardcover, 206 pages. Reviewed by Christine Norvell In the history of education in America, many Americans no longer know how common...
C. S. Lewis’s Indispensable Guide

C. S. Lewis’s Indispensable Guide

After Humanity: A Guide to C. S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. by Michael Ward. Word on Fire Academic, 2021. Hardcover, 253 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Chris Butynskyi Accessibility is a hallmark of the works of C. S. Lewis, and an element that made him one...
Lessons of Nationalism

Lessons of Nationalism

Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire By Katja Hoyer. Pegasus Books, 2021. Hardcover, 272 pages, $27.95. Reviewed by Casey Chalk Today the word nationalism provokes immediate fears of a resurgent “blood and soil” fascism. Nationalism stokes “racist or...
Theroux and the Pleasure of Reading

Theroux and the Pleasure of Reading

Alexander Theroux: A Fan’s Notes By Steven Moore. Zerogram Press, 2020. Paperback, 264 pages, $19.95. Reviewed by Jeffrey Wald Writing about a writer writing about another writer … Does this create the potential for an infinite regress? Perhaps. With such a risk in...
The Internet Giveth and the Internet Taketh Away

The Internet Giveth and the Internet Taketh Away

100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet By Pamela Paul. Crown, 2021. Hardcover, 288 pages, $27. Reviewed by Auguste Meyrat Few inventions in recent memory have been more disruptive and influential than the internet. Only a few decades ago, the great whole of humanity...
Much More than a Decadent

Much More than a Decadent

Lionel Johnson: Poetry and Prose Edited by Robert Asch. Saint Austin Press, 2021. Hardcover, 544 pages, $39.90. “And who shall say, that to know the great Masters is not the first necessity of an artist? Yet we might think, that a true man of letters would...