Maureen Corrigan

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Ripley Under Water," a new crime novel by Patricia Highsmith -- her fifth featuring debonair con man Tom Ripley.

Maureen Corrigan, who is a lapsed Catholic herself, reviews the book Catholic Girls, a collection of essays by other lapsed Catholics. The writers' feelings about being raised Catholic range from nostalgic to angry.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan on Madonna's new book of photograph's, "Sex." Corrigan says it does what Madonna does best: gets people to say her name.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews the reissue of Norman Mailer's autobiographical work, first published in 1959.

Writer Norman McLean died in 1990, leaving behind an unfinished manuscript about firefighters who died during the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana. It's just been published, and critic Maureen Corrigan has a review.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Motor City" by Bill Morris. It's his first book, and deals with the auto industry and a whole host of cultural figures from the 1950s.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "American Mythologies" by Marshall Blonsky, which seeks to recover the meaning behind the totality of American cultural production, from fast food to news anchors to pornography. Corrigan admires the project, but says Blonsky doesn't seem to like or respect his subjects.

In light of the current debate over abortion and "family values," critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new biography of social reformer and birth control champion Margaret Sanger, by Ellen Chesler.

Critic Maureen Corrigan compares the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and George Bush by way of two new books: "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America," by Garry Wills, and "Bushisms: President G.H.W. Bush in his own Words," compiled by the editors of the "New Republic."

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Intellectual Memoirs," by Mary McCarthy. It's the last book by McCarthy and its about her years in New York 1936-1938.