The newest book by the papal biographer and social commentator George Weigel owes much of its theory to the late Pope John Paul II and its main questions read like a sermon by the new pope Benedict XVI The Cube and the Cathedral is an excellent read It is clear to the point and engaging and en

At the closing of the interreligious World Day of Peace in Assisi in 1986 Pope John Paul II articulated the essence and value of the day rsquo s fasting and prayer ldquo Let us see in it an anticipation of what God would like the developing history of humanity to be a fraternal journey in which

Today as never before in their history Americans are enthralled with military power So begins the introduction to Andrew J Bacevich rsquo s thorough and prophetic examination of our increasing dependence on guns and bombs to insure our domestic security and spread our ideals of democracy abroad Ba

What paradise and what ashes are meant by the title Paradise in Ashes A Guatemalan Journey of Courage Terror and Hope The paradise refers to the small village of Santa Mar a Tzej In the late 1960 rsquo s it was virtually carved out of the rain forest in northern Guatemala by a group of poor

J Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist whose brilliant blue eyes came to express such engulfing sadness, brought a new kind of fire into the world and was burned by it. Like Hesiod's Prometheus, Oppenheimer fought on the side of humankind, giving us the tools and weapons to determine our own fate; and fate punished him for it.

The first question that comes to my mind while reading de Bellaigue rsquo s blunt reportage from the Islamic Republic is What about Kahra Kazemi the photo-journalist who was brutally beaten and possibly raped by the Iranian secret police before dying of her injuries on July 10 2003 She held a