The earth provides us with the resources we need to stay alive. Unfortunately, making use of those resources usually involves doing damage—to the animals we sacrifice for food and clothing, and through the environmental degradation we... Read More

Kathleen Sprows Cummings’s thorough and spirited "A Saint of Our Own" looks at the Catholic community in the United States and its desire for an American saint. Well-researched in historical and religious context, the book conveys the... Read More

In 2016, J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy defined Appalachia for many, with Vance lionized as the region’s latter-day prophet. For Appalachians, the book has been much more troubling and complex. "Appalachian Reckoning", edited by... Read More

Iran from Crowns to Turbans is a dynamite book about one foreigner’s privileged look at earthshaking events that still impact the world today. Gail Rose Thompson’s "Iran from Crown to Turbans" is an incisive look at Iran during the... Read More

Do they exist? What are they hiding from? Did one of those little suckers take my beloved stuffed teddy bear when I was three? These are the burning elf and dwarf questions keeping wanna-believers up at night, especially in parts of... Read More

In "Hermanas", Natalia Kohn, Noemi Vega Quiñones, and Kristy Garza Robinson construct a lighthouse with love, built on the examples of biblical women as well as each author’s personal experiences, to draw their Christian Latina... Read More

In "American Cosmic", professor of religious studies D. W. Pasulka examines the rising culture around UFOs as if it were a viable new religion. Like other new religions, she says, Ufology includes scribes and prophets; a contact event... Read More

"Boomer Brands" is a sunny, nostalgic showcase of some of the beloved toys, foods, television shows, and consumer goods that formed such a huge part of that generation’s youthful memories. A former brand marketer, Barry Silverstein... Read More