Father Joseph Fessio, S.J.: California Blackrobe By Cornelius Michael Buckley. S.J. Ignatius Press, 2024. Hardcover, 379 pages, $27.95. Reviewed by Lee Oser. “Fessio.” The name has become a test. The first card the reviewer lays on the table will evoke a smile or a...
Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment By Allen C. Guelzo. Knopf, 2024. Hardcover, 272 pages, $30. Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl. On the southern border of my college’s campus is a statue of a Union soldier. It’s the oldest such monument...
Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind By Frank Tallis. St. Martin’s Press, 2024. Hardcover, 496 pages, $31. Frank Tallis published Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind early in 2024. The University Bookman...
Vergil: The Poet’s Life By Sarah Ruden. Yale University Press, 2023. Hardcover, 200 pages, $26. Reviewed by Paul Krause. Vergil is the greatest Roman poet. We know him as the poet of the Aeneid, the Eclogues, and the Georgics. Vergil is also Dante’s guide through hell...
Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power By Leah Redmond Chang. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2023. Hardcover, 512 pages, $35.00. Reviewed by Jesse Russell. In the Anglophone world, there is one (and only one) Renaissance queen: Elizabeth Tudor....
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!