Archive - August 5, 2013

According to People Magazine in a recent review, Thurston Clarke’s (Tunisia 1968) new book, JFK’s Last Hundred Days, makes the case that JFK, who had just lost his infant son, was on the verge of vast achievement before his assassination. Thurston’s book is a minute-by-minute account of JFK’s last hundred days that asks what might have been. Kennedy’s last hundred days began just after the death of two-day-old Patrick Kennedy, and during this time, the president made strides in the Cold War, civil rights, Vietnam, and his personal life. While Jackie was recuperating, the premature infant and his father were flown to Boston for Patrick’s treatment. Kennedy was holding his son’s hand when Patrick died on August 9, 1963. The loss of his son convinced Kennedy to work harder as a husband and father, and there is ample evidence that he suspended his notorious philandering during these last months of . . .

The Book of Jotham by Arthur Powers (Brazil 1969-73) 2012 Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction – Novella Tuscany Press, $16.95 64 pages 2013 Reviewed by M. Susan Hundt-Bergan (Ethiopia 1966-68) A favorite Catholic prayer invoking the intercession of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, includes the words, “we…poor banished children of Eve…mourning and weeping in this vale of tears…” Jesus focused his ministry on those heavily weighed down by the burdens of life, those who mourn and weep in this vale of tears. In the Gospel stories we see Jesus encountering and embracing lepers, cripples, prostitutes, tax cheats, demoniacs, beggars, blind men, and heartbroken widows – those at the bottom and fringes of society of his times. And one could add women and children to that list. The main character in Arthur Powers’ small and beautiful work, The Book of Jotham, adds a new face to those we meet in the . . .