Patrick Samway News Today

Robert Giroux edited some of the 20th century's leading writers, including some prominent Catholic voices like Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy and Thomas Merton.

Was Cormac McCarthy our greatest American novelist? Or did he take his readers to darker places than many of them wanted to go?

John Moffitt, the poetry editor of America, was also a regular correspondent with everyone from famous Hindu swamis to J. D. Salinger to Thomas Merton.

John Hope Franklin wrote of the African American struggle for justice for seven decades. At his death, he was called "the first great American historian to reckon the price owed in violence, autocracy and militarism.”

Andre Dubus wrote short stories and novellas about the brutal truths and miraculous moments in life—and more than a few dealt with the joys and sorrows of fatherhood.

The author of “The Moviegoer” and other distinguished novels was also an occasional book reviewer and commentator for America, and his prose in our pages shone as well.

Wendell Berry could be described by many labels. More than anything else, he has been a voice of practical reason and concise cultural commentary in his more than 80 books published over six decades.