Charles Taylor
Articles by Charles Taylor
A Matter of Faith
Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans
Talk About Change in the Church
and the Quest for Meaning
By Kerry Kennedy
Crown, 247 pages, $24.95
Kerry Kennedy’s book may be called Being Catholic Now, but her opening is pure chutzpah. Given an audience with Pope Benedict a few years back, she asked him, “In view of the tragedy unfolding in Africa, for the sake of the sanctity of life, would you consider changing the Church’s position on the use of condoms?” It’s a great, inescapable moment, one of those times the powerful are called on their own hypocrisy and given the chance to rise above it. At Ms. read more »
Conformist Rebels Kindle Teen Spirit
Harlingue/Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Marie Bashkirtseff (1858-1884), whose diary is perhaps the earliest chronicle of teen angst.
Jon Savage’s breathtaking history of the punk movement in the United Kingdom, England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond (1992), read more »
Buckley’s Modest Proposal
Christopher Buckley (b. 1952) has written a half-dozen satirical novels, including The White House Mess (1986) and No Way to Treat a First Lady (2002).
The connection between Christopher Buckley, the sort of writer whose novels are invariably described read more »
Get Smart, Get Barbara! Ms. Feldon Purred
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Ms. Feldon in 1967.
By the mid-60’s, the standard that had been established for sitcoms in the previous decade&mda read more »
New Brando Collection: Reflections Goes Gold
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Marlon Brando in Reflections in a Golden Eye.
Studios almost never admit to being wrong. read more »
New Brando Collection: Reflections Goes Gold
Studios almost never admit to being wrong. read more »
La Dolce Vita? Nah!— Amarcord Is Even More Fun
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Federico Fellini in 1955, arriving from Rome at Idlewild Airport (now J.F.K.), New York.
Everyone remembers the blowhard on the movie line in Annie Hall. read more »
La Dolce Vita? Nah!- Amarcord Is Even More Fun
Everyone remembers the blowhard on the movie line in Annie Hall. read more »
Two Queens, Dreamgirls, And Craig Attempts Bond
Sony Pictures
Kirsten Dunst is Marie Antoinette.
Despite some attempts to set the record straight, the story persists that Sofia Coppola’s Mari read more »
Brando, Sturges, Samurai; Don’t Miss Pre-Code, Old Bond
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Director Preston Sturges in Hollywood, December 1945.
“Using every threat, contract, and influence I could muster”: That’s John Huston i read more »
Two Queens, Dreamgirls, And Craig Attempts Bond
Despite some attempts to set the record straight, the story persists that Sofia Coppola’s Marie An read more »
Brando, Sturges, Samurai; Don't Miss Pre-Code, Old Bond
“Using every threat, contract, and influence I could muster”: That’s John Huston in his 1980 a read more »
The Asexual Femme Fatale: Indemnity's Stanwyck
Her shoes should have warned him. read more »
The Asexual Femme Fatale: Indemnity’s Stanwyck
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Barbara Stanwyck in 1936.
Her shoes should have warned him. read more »
How It Happened Here: A Fantasy Fuels Terror
The unsigned editorial in last Friday’s New York Times made all the appropriate noises:
read more »
How It Happened Here: A Fantasy Fuels Terror
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Condoleezza Rice being sworn in before testifying to the 9/11 Commission on April 8, 2004.
The unsigned editorial in last Friday’s New York Times made all the appropriate noises:
read more »
The Girl Can’t Help It: Jayne Mansfield’s Allure
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Jayne Mansfield, 1933-1967.
If part of Hollywood’s appeal is the lure of the artificial—not the entirety of its appe read more »
The Girl Can't Help It: Jayne Mansfield's Allure
If part of Hollywood’s appeal is the lure of the artificial—not the entirety of its appeal, but read more »
Richardson's Lively Disaster: Waugh's The Loved One
Stuck in that weird intersection between the death throes of the old Hollywood and the birth pangs o read more »
Breaking Up Is Good to Do: The Case for an Iraqi Split
About a month ago, I was having dinner in a West Village bistro, eavesdropping on two young men who read more »
Breaking Up Is Good to Do: The Case for an Iraqi Split
Peter Galbraith, the kind of anti-war critic we desperately need.
About a month ago, I was having dinner in a West Village bistro, eavesdropping on two young men who read more »
Richardson’s Lively Disaster: Waugh’s The Loved One
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British film director Tony Richardson (1928-1991).
Stuck in that weird intersection between the death throes of the old Hollywood and the birth pangs o read more »
Stagecoach: Is There Such A Thing as an Anti-Western?
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Director John Ford in 1947.
Stagecoach is to American movies what The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to American literature. read more »
There and Back Again: A Pilgrim’s Vivid Progress
Jerry Bauer
Lapsed and relapsed: Journalist and historian John Cornwell.
It’s not the Antichrist who tempts those who write memoirs about losing their faith, it’ read more »
Stagecoach: Is There Such A Thing as an Anti-Western?
Stagecoach is to American movies what The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to American literature. read more »
There and Back Again: A Pilgrim's Vivid Progress
It’s not the Antichrist who tempts those who write memoirs about losing their faith, it’s the An read more »
No More Wire Hangers! Dunaway’s Mommie Returns
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Faye Dunaway, 1986.
When Louis B. read more »
Williams and Kazan's Baby: Why the Church Went Nuts
Few things are left to give one a sense of constancy in this world, so it’s nice to know the Catho read more »
A Stylish Contradiction: Furst’s Romantic Realism
A New York native with continental tastes: novelist Alan Furst.
Throughout his elegant and compact sequence of espionage novels set in the Europe of the 1930’ read more »
Williams and Kazan’s Baby: Why the Church Went Nuts
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American playwright Tennessee Williams in London, 1959.
Few things are left to give one a sense of constancy in this world, so it’s nice to know the C read more »
A Stylish Contradiction: Furst's Romantic Realism
Throughout his elegant and compact sequence of espionage novels set in the Europe of the 1930’s an read more »
Through a Glass, Darkly: Exorcising the Pentagon
James Carroll claims to have left the priesthood in the early 1970’s. read more »
Through a Glass, Darkly: Exorcising the Pentagon
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The construction of the Pentagon began with a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 11, 1941
James Carroll claims to have left the priesthood in the early 1970’s. read more »
De Palma's Masterpiece: A Casualty of the Box Office
It would be nice to think that with the release of the new extended cut of Casualties of War, Brian read more »
De Palma’s Masterpiece: A Casualty of the Box Office
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Brian De Palma.
It would be nice to think that with the release of the new extended cut of Casualties of War, Brian read more »
Screwball’s Garbo? Carole Lombard Wants Fun
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The sharpshooter: Carole Lombard (1908-1942) in Hollywood.
If you accept the world of screwball comedy as an alternate universe, with a logic inside its seemin read more »
Screwball's Garbo? Carole Lombard Wants Fun
If you accept the world of screwball comedy as an alternate universe, with a logic inside its seemin read more »
Generous Criterion Set Challenges Myths of Malle
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The misunderstood French filmmaker Louis Malle in 1974.
If there were any justice in the movies, we still wouldn’t have to make the case for Louis Mal read more »
Generous Criterion Set Challenges Myths of Malle
If there were any justice in the movies, we still wouldn’t have to make the case for Louis Malle a read more »
Precise Moral Judgments Blurred by War's Messiness
In some contexts, the good, decent humanist approach seems more callous than sheer bloody-mindedness read more »
Precise Moral Judgments Blurred by War’s Messiness
Richard Petersen/Getty Images
Dresden after three days of continuous Allied bombing.
In some contexts, the good, decent humanist approach seems more callous than sheer bloody-mindedness read more »
That Scary 70's New York- Dog Days, But No Cynicism
The freak show that was 70’s New York both on- and off-screen can be summed up by the kicker of Pa read more »
That Scary 70’s New York— Dog Days, But No Cynicism
Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon.
The freak show that was 70’s New York both on- and off-screen can be summed up by the kicker o read more »
The American Man: Cary Grant Gets Dazzling Set
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Cary Grant (1904-1986), who was born Archibald Leach, in England.
“Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”—Cary Grant.
read more »
The American Man: Cary Grant Gets Dazzling Set
“Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”—Cary Grant.
read more »
Peckinpah's Obsessions: Aging Men, and Marriage
When a director has been as condemned and lionized as Sam Peckinpah has, it’s inevitable that the read more »
Peckinpah’s Obsessions: Aging Men, and Marriage
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Director Sam Peckinpah.
When a director has been as condemned and lionized as Sam Peckinpah has, it’s inevitable that read more »
A Gorgeous Tribute to Ozu, Hou's Café Requires Patience
The suggestion that there are some filmmakers we have to work to appreciate often implies that movie read more »
Superb Literary Critic Divided Against Himself
Matt Writtle
John Carey, chief book reviewer for London
To borrow a line from Yellow Submarine, in What Good Are the Arts? read more »
