Facing fierce opposition from Republicans, Democrats are pleading for bipartisanship and teamwork. Senate Democrats invited religion reporters to the Capitol to talk about "the moral imperatives of health care and climate change" and to ask religious communities to "speak out

Among the protagonists in the pageant of English history, the Tudors are generally painted in lurid colors. In the English popular imagination-influenced by five centuries of drama and (...)

A review of the Vermeer exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A review of Mary Karr's new memoir, Lit.

Somewhere within Jane Campion's unmistakable gift for filmmaking resides a diffidence. She would rather dreamily contemplate her characters than sound their depths. Perhaps there is a voice (...)

Whenever I read an article that advocates refusing the Eucharist to people whose public politics conflict with church teachings, it worries me. I find I have a lot of questions. Why, for (...)

A few years ago, I began mixing up my walking regimen with intervals of running, working my slow way up to running a mile at a time, and then-eventually-to four. And now I'm hooked.I've (...)

It is a sign of our weird political moment that the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama will probably hurt him among some of his fellow citizens. His opponents are describing (...)

The Hawk and the Dove is a composite biography told through the story of Paul Nitze's and George Kennan's divergent stances on U.S. policy during the Cold War. Each man was a significant figure (...)

Richard Powers is that rare fiction writer more concerned with the mysteries of science than with the mysteries of character. His novels, including The Gold Bug Variations (1991) and The Echo (...)

Over the past two decades, few writers have charmed as many critics and readers as the British novelist Ian McEwan. He is probably best known for his 2001 novel Atonement, which sold over 4 (...)

francis & the fifth crusade Thank you for Paul Moses's article on St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan al-Kamil ("Mission Improbable," September 25). Francis was not alone in trying to (...)

Academically inclined readers familiar with Michael J. Sandel's work will find little new in his latest book. But that's not the point. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? is a work of public (...)

There is a scene from Andrew Sorkin's TV series The West Wing, now on DVD, in which two characters go through identical morning routines in two different hotel rooms. The point is to illustrate (...)