Poem: Eclipse
Eclipse By Patrick T. Reardon Credit: NASA Kegan Barber The afternoon of the solar eclipse feels like bright Good Friday. I have no desire to look at the [...]
Essay: We are all Us
The gospel reading this weekend in Roman Catholic churches around the world is a very familiar one to Christians — and with good reason. In Mark’s telling of the life [...]
Book review: “Cry My Beloved America” by Alexander Polikoff
Alexander Polikoff’s Cry My Beloved America is a most depressing book, especially in these days before the November 5 presidential election. But that’s not Polikoff’s fault. He’s just the messenger. [...]
Poem: In her pain
In her pain (Brother Elbow and Little Sister poem #7) By Patrick T. Reardon We sit with Trump enthusiasts, Elbow, Sister and I. Oh, Elbow, calm [...]
Book review: “King’s Ransom” by Ed McBain
Steve Carella is the most gentlemanly of detectives, and, in the squad room of the 87th precinct, he is respected by his peers. But, after witnessing Douglas King refuse numerous [...]
Book review: “Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago’s Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent” by John William Nelson
The key moment in John William Nelson’s important, original and eye-opening history of the place that became the city of Chicago — Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the [...]
Book review: “Man’s Fate (The Human Condition)” by Andre Malraux
In his novel Man’s Fate, Andre Malraux tells the story of the Communist insurrectionists who took control of Shanghai in March, 1927, and then were massacred a month later by [...]
Book review: “Towards Zero” by Agatha Christie
Towards Zero, published by Agatha Christie in 1944, is a reminder of how creative she was as a mystery writer. Christie was the epitome of what’s called the Golden Age [...]
Book review: “The Beautifull Cassandra: A Novel in Twelve Chapters” by Jane Austen, with an afterword by Claudia L. Johnson and artwork by Leon Steinmetz
When Jane Austen wrote The Beautifull Cassandra at the age of 12 in 1788, she added the subtitle: A Novel in Twelve Chapters. That’s a big claim for a work [...]
Poem: “Like Us”
Like us By Patrick T. Reardon In daylight, the Ghiberti gold doors, behind a thick metal cell, turn out to be a 1990 copy, and the Thursday streets — [...]