"The Lord God Bird" is a quiet novel with a solitary spirit. Like its protagonist, it delves into the muddiness of the human condition—the way we live and lose our lives—but does so with gentle strokes of methodical, tender... Read More

The most urgent practical task of the philosopher, according to Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, is a re-formulation and revision of the principles of comparative religion in order to “demonstrate the common metaphysical basis of all... Read More

Mention the name Julia Child in almost any crowd and you’ll get smiles, nods, and stories about favorite episodes of her cooking show, The French Chef. Child has become an icon in America, a symbol of our collective desire to find... Read More

As a book reviewer I am usually at once attending to both the words on the page and what should be said about them. With Twelve Breaths a Minute, however, I could not think beyond these essays. I could only read, unblinkingly, imagining... Read More

In "Universal Dimensions of Islam" Editor Patrick Laude compiles sixteen scholarly articles on the aspects of Islam that matter most to a Western audience in today’s particularly tense political climate. Ideas of universality,... Read More

Writers of the best fiction place messages in their work, often cryptic and difficult to comprehend. Liza Wieland is one of those writers: her descriptions are filled with potent symbolism and her carefully crafted words deliver a... Read More

When Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was first released in 1960, audiences were treated to many on-screen firsts: a flushing toilet, an image of unmarried lovers sharing a bed, a depiction of murder in a shower, and Janet Leigh as the first... Read More

In 1970, Yaupon Island is down to three inhabitants: Maggie, Whaley, and Woodrow, who make up half of Michael Parker’s novel, The Watery Part of the World. The other half begins in 1813, when pirates capture and spare Theodosia Burr... Read More