2019 Books of the Year
Great books tell stories. Here’s our pick of vivid and insightful new releases for better understanding America, world events, history, science, and theology
Voices
Marvin Olasky
Punctuated equilibrium
Third in an occasional series of short short fiction ...
Andrée Seu Peterson
Bridal gown
It’s June, the month of brides. We have permission to fuss over our lace and crinoline, for when we do so our minds are aligned with God’s own. He also cares about the wedding gown. He also oohs a...
Mindy Belz
Going cold on a hot spot?
When I hear someone say about Middle East policy, “It’s all about oil,” I want to reply, “Tell that to the Mongols.” Or the Persians. Or the Arab armies of Muhammad. All these set th...
Janie B. Cheaney
Virtual vs. reality
The Star Trek universe, set in the 23rd and 24th centuries, imagines a “holodeck” aboard the Starship Enterprise where crewmen can retreat for training and R&R. The white-striped room simulate...
Joel Belz
Standing in line
Standing in line is such a colossal waste of time. I’ve been thinking about that especially while listening to reports about thousands of travelers who missed their flights leading up to the Memor...
The Editors
Mailbag
‘The cowboy in autumn’ May 14 Thanks for the update. I used to listen to John R. Erickson’s delightful stories of Hank, Drover, and the coyotes and buzzards on cassette tapes while co...
Notebook
Money
Competitors' club
These aren’t the best of days for the online lending industry. Renaud Laplanche, the founder of industry leader Lending Club, resigned as CEO in May after news surfaced that Lending Club had misre...
Science
Rise of the superbugs?
Last month doctors reported that a strain of antibiotic-resistant E. coli had infected a 49-year-old woman in Pennsylvania. The alarming case is the first time scientists have found bacteria carry...
Lifestyle
Millennials for Mozart
NEW YORK—An unusual, sold-out classical performance took place one recent April night in the stone crypt of Harlem’s Church of the Intercession. The audience of about 150 filtered in, lugging appe...
Sports
An American icon
Since “Muhammad Ali” is one of Islam’s favorite names, Muslims around the world usually referred to the great boxer who died on June 3 as Muhammad Ali Clay—ironically calling him by the “slave” na...
Culture
Music
Recent pop-rock albums
Live: That Hot Pink Blues Album Keb’ Mo’ Sharing only two cuts apiece with the 2003 studio compilation Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Keb’ Mo’ and the 2009 semi-live overview Li...
Q&A
Matthew Su: Education unlimited
The Christian school movement is growing in China, with 300-500 unregistered church schools now operating. A leader in the movement, Early Rain Reformed Church in Chengdu, has a classical Christian...
Books
Bullets, fists, and bayonets
Next month the French will once again celebrate Bastille Day, July 14, which in 1789 was the starting point of the French Revolution, but Peter McPhee’s scholarly but lively Liberty or Death (Yale...
Books
Recent Christian books
Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ Andrew David Naselli & J.D. Crowley Andy Naselli and J.D. Crowley set out to show from Scripture the God-des...
Children's Books
Series standouts
A Complicated Case (Detective Gordon) ...
Movies & TV
Me before us
Throughout my crowded screening of Me Before You, as I listened to mostly young women sniffling and, on occasion, outright sobbing in the dark beside me, one public figure remained continually in ...
DVD
Full of Grace
Full of Grace is not a motion picture but a series of stained glass windows connected, like all stained glass, with a great deal of lead in the story of the last days of Mary, the mother of Jesus....
Movies & TV
Now You See Me 2
In the summer of 2013, a movie season bursting with sequels, prequels, reboots, and adaptations (so pretty much like the summer of 2016), one sleeper hit stood out for its originality. Though the ...
Movies & TV
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
The first 45 minutes or so of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, a mockumentary about a Justin Bieber–like pop star named Conner4Real (Andy Samberg), is a barrage of clever jokes. Conner is relea...
Movies & TV
Box Office Top 10
Cautions: Quantity of sexual (S), violent (V), and foul-language (L) content on a 0-10 scale, with 10 high, from kids-in-mind.com S ...
Music
Old friend passing
By the time Guy Clark joined Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and Joe Ely on the “Songwriters Tour” in the early 2000s, he had earned a reputation as one of the finest country songwriters of his generatio...
Dispatches
News
Battle for Iraq
Civilians from Fallujah, Iraq, flee across the Euphrates River on June 2 as Iraqi forces fight to wrest control of the city from Islamic State. ...
News
Race to the bottom?
In the hot summer stretch before political conventions and presidential elections, the two presumptive nominees already have nicknames for each other: “Crooked Hillary” and “dangerous” Donald. ...
Human Race
Human Race
Fired Baylor University’s Board of Regents announced May 26 it had removed Ken Starr as president of the school. Baylor fired Starr, WORLD’s first Daniel of the Year and the leader of the B...
Quotables
Quotables
‘Very much so.’ Billy Strickland, executive director of the Alaska School Activities Association, on whether the decision to allow a boy who identifies as a girl to compete in the girls sta...
Quick Takes
Quick Takes
Preppy eating The hottest ticket in Chicago this summer might be a pop-up diner paying homage to an awkward if popular 1990s teen sitcom. Michelin-starred chef Brian Fisher opened Saved by ...
News
By the numbers
54% The increase in premiums sought by Blue Cross Blue Shield in Texas across all Affordable Care Act plans. The company is also seeking a 49 percent price hike in Oklahoma. 16 years...