Running for president in 1928, Al Smith argued it was possible to be both a good Catholic and a faithful servant of the American people, writes Terry Golway. Even in losing, he changed U.S. history.

Patrick Radden Keefe delivers a searing portrait of Irish women and men struggling to make sense of their past and their memories.

"On The Irish Waterfront" promises to reshape how cultural historians view a classic 1950s film.

'I'm inspired by the astonishing optimism of other Americans.'

'No one needs to be told that newspapers are nearing their end days.'

'The meltdown of venerable investment houses might have been anticipated.'

We have reached that stage of the election cycle when travel-weary commentators direct their ire at a hardy artifact of the old millennium, the national political convention. As thousands of delegates prepare for a few days of around-the-clock socializing and caucusing, their Boswells in the politic

Clinton, Obama, and the danger of identity politics

The most extraordinary presidential primary season since 1976, when Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan competed for delegates right up to the eve of the Republican National Convention, is nearly over. Cynics and late-night comics no doubt will heave a well-practiced sigh of relief and pretend, as best th

Is the religious right a spent force in American politics? There seems to be a growing consensus that it is, based in part on John McCain’s rather easy dispatch of Mike Huckabee in the Republican primaries. Huckabee, a preacher and unabashed advocate for the evangelical movement, certainly tou