The last day and the first day
This essay originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune on December 31, 2015 My brother David Michael died suddenly a few days before Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking a lot about him [...]
Book review: “The Haymarket Conspiracy” by Timothy Messer-Kruse
In late April, 1885, Chicago’s small, tight, deeply committed group of anarchists marched to protest the opening of the new Board of Trade Building. Turned away by police, the group [...]
Book review: “Arabian Nights: Four Tales from A Thousand and One Nights,” art by Marc Chagall, text by Richard Francis Burton
It is not often that three works of art can be found in one volume. But that’s the case with Arabian Nights with art by Marc Chagall and text by [...]
Poem: Psalm
Psalm By Patrick T. Reardon The Lord croons melodious tunes. Praise God. The Lord whistles cool breezes. Praise God. The Lord laughs deep from the belly. Praise God. The [...]
Book review: “The Forgotten Frontier: Urban Planning in the American West before 1890” by John W. Reps
In 1856, some 60 Roman Catholics from eastern Iowa, calling themselves St. Patrick’s Colony, moved together to the Nebraska side of the Missouri River where they laid out an elaborate [...]
Poem: Visions
Visions By Patrick T. Reardon I see the hand of God write on the wall the sins of the king. I see the bloody knife. I see the father lead [...]
Book review: “The Law and the Prophets,” edited by Robin Fox
The man’s left hand is on the boy’s neck, holding the head down. On the boy’s face is a grimace. In this tight detail, nothing else of the man is [...]
Book review: “A History of Heaven: The Singing Silence” by Jeffrey Burton Russell
Life is a journey. We get to the edge, and then — what? As a Catholic, I grew up with lots of talk about heaven and all the other aspects [...]
Memo to the GOP: Dump Trump
Enough is enough. It is time — right now — for the Republican Party to expel Donald Trump. If the GOP acts now, it will not only do the right [...]
R. H. Mottram, looking back to Trollope and forward to Bellow
by Bassano, vintage print, 14 June 1939 A young William Faulkner admired R. H. (Ralph Hale) Mottram, comparing the literary achievement of the British writer’s trilogy of novels [...]