After the New Left: Rereading Breaking Ranks

After the New Left: Rereading Breaking Ranks

By John C. “Chuck” Chalberg. The recent death of Norman Podhoretz prompted me to return to his “political memoir,” Breaking Ranks. Published in 1979, it deserves to be read or re-read today—and not simply as a historical account of his evolution from left to right...
Amici

Amici

Michelangelo and Titian: A Tale of Rivalry and Genius By William E. Wallace.  Princeton University Press, 2026. Hardcover, 248 pages, $35.00.  Reviewed by Jesse Russell. There is a running joke that Americans remain perpetually torn between Puritanism and pornography....
Catholic or Nothing

Catholic or Nothing

Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century By Melanie McDonagh. Yale University Press, 2026. Hardcover, 354 pages, $38. Reviewed by Adam Schwartz. In September 2025, King Charles III visited the Birmingham Oratory to...
No Seed Which Dies Remains Alone

No Seed Which Dies Remains Alone

The Locust Years  By Paul J. Pastor. Wiseblood Books, 2025. Paperback, 129 pages, $20. Reviewed by Sarah Reardon. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”...
Words from the Hearth

Words from the Hearth

Home Songs By Sarah Reardon. Resource Publications, 2025. Paperback, 46 pages, $6. Reviewed by Annmarie McLaughlin. Sarah Reardon’s Home Songs, a collection of twenty poems about marriage and family life (seven of which were previously published individually), has...
A Knight of the American West

A Knight of the American West

The Last Westerner By Chilton Williamson Jr. St. Augustine’s Press, 2025. Paperback, 386 pages, $19.95.  Reviewed by Patrick J. Walsh. Apparently, there are still cavaliers and men who believe in love between men and women. Chilton Williamson’s new novel, The...