When the poet Hart Crane jumped from a ship to his death in the waters of the Caribbean on an April morning in 1932 alarmed crewmembers threw life preservers into the water after him Their rescue effort was not only futile but also ironic since Crane rsquo s father had invented the Life Saver can

John Updike's reflection on faith and writing upon his reception of America's Campion Medal in 1997.

Michael S. Dukakis delivered this address to the Kenna Club at Santa Clara University in California on Feb. 28, 1997.

Tommy Tighe argues that being Catholic is hipster in itself. So, he contends, why not mine the tradition for its quirkiest customs and celebrate them without reservation?

The book grapples with the biggest of issues: the meaning of life, the problem of evil and the value of praying to a God who seems only rarely to intervene in human affairs.

While Strout’s masterful design draws us in, it is the searing emotional specificity of her language that captures us.