New In Paperback

At Home: A Widow's Life, A Tiger Mother's Tale, And A Call For Compassion

Just in time for New Year's reading, Stewart O'Nan returns with a captivating look at the life of a widow, while Deborah Harkness offers a tale of magical mayhem unleashed by a manuscript at Oxford. In nonfiction, Karen Armstrong invites readers to deepen their compassion and Amy Chua offers a call to arms for "Tiger Mothers."

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You Must Read This

Spare And Sublime: A Monastery's Spell Of 'Silence'

Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time To Keep Silence replicates in style and rhythm the very experience that it seeks to describe. The 95-page book recounts Fermor's visits to several French monasteries in the 1950s, and writer Adam Haslett found the book draws readers into deep contemplation.

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Author Interviews

Twelve Concrete Ways To Live A 'Compassionate Life'

From Confucius to Oprah, people have preached compassion for centuries. But how often is it put into practice? In Twelve Steps To A Compassionate Life, religion expert Karen Armstrong describes ways to add kindness to daily routines.

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New In Paperback

New In Paperback, Sept. 6-12

As summer ends, it's time for brainy reads you may have missed in hardcover. Wolf Hall, set in the court of Henry VIII, won the 2009 Booker Prize. Former nun Karen Armstrong takes on the atheists in The Case for God. Barbara Ehrenreich pops the bubble of American optimism with her usual wit — and more.

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Books

Authors Find Fertile Mix Of Science And Religion

The novelist Margaret Atwood wrote the anti-religious parable The Handmaid's Tale. Religious scholar Karen Armstrong's latest book is The Case for God. While they may seem at odds, Rick Kleffel investigates the areas in which their views overlap.

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Book Reviews

An Exhaustive, Invigorating 'Case For God'

When it comes to our current understanding of theology, former Roman Catholic nun Karen Armstrong attempts to bring "something fresh to the table." Reviewer Susan Jane Gilman calls Armstrong's Case for God a "stimulating, hopeful work."

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Author Interviews

Karen Armstrong Builds A 'Case For God'

In her new book The Case for God, the author — a former nun — argues that religion is a practical discipline that can teach us to discover new capacities of the mind and heart.

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'Books That Changed the World'

Karen Armstrong Writes 'Biography' of the Bible

The Bible is the most widely circulated book in history and one of the most influential texts of all time. Religious affairs expert Karen Armstrong weighs in on the uncertain origins and complex development of the Scriptures.

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Books

Armstrong, 'Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time'

When the Pope spoke of jihad, and when Danish cartoonists published caricatures of a violent prophet Muhammad, Karen Armstrong blamed "Islamophobia." The author talks about her second biography on the prophet, entitled Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time and warns against what she calls the "myth of Islam as a chronically violent religion."

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Author Armstrong on Religious 'Transformation'

A bit over 2,000 years ago, human civilization was in the midst of what's called the Axial Age, a critical moment when the world's greatest religions shaped themselves. Karen Armstrong's book The Great Transformation examines the subject. She speaks with Neal Conan.

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