No one unscathed in Yale professor's account of 1940s 'polio wars'

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"Polio Wars" tells the story of the conflict between the medical establishment and "Sister" Elizabeth Kenny, who came to the United States from Australia in the early 1940s with a new idea for treating polio patients that flew in the face of standard practice at that time. Neither an accredited nurse nor a member of a religious order, Kenny received the title "sister" because of her status in Australia as a senior nurse.
Kenny quickly became a media sensation and her life story was made into a film starring Rosalind Russell. But the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s made Kenny's work irrelevant and she was quickly forgotten.
Born in 1880, the fifth child of nine of an itinerant farmworker, Elizabeth and her family moved constantly between New South Wales and Queensland during her childhood.

For the aging and the ages, stories provide valuable insight

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Spend any time with the aging and you will discover that one thing they have in common is personal stories.
It makes sense that the longer one has lived, the greater repertoire of material he or she will have. And, as life expectancy increases, one can expect a greater supply of stories. Collectively, these three books add to the story storehouse, but each in a different way and for a different purpose.
"Rich in Years" by Johann Christoph Arnold is for those for whom more of life is in the rearview mirror than in the windshield. Arnold offers an opportunity to engage with people who are immersed in their faith and who relied on it through sickness and as they anticipated death. These are upbeat, inspirational stories that -- if read with an open heart and mind -- have the potential to change, for the better, how readers live their remaining years.

Graphic novel: 'Boxers & Saints,' faith and rebellion in China

Illustration from "Boxers & 
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"Boxers & Saints" (First Second Books), a two-volume graphic novel written and drawn by Gene Luen Yang, is an example of comic art at its best.
Author Yang is a practicing Catholic who teaches computer science at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. But "Boxers & Saints" is more than simple cartoon evangelization. It's a subtle and colorful work that keeps the faith while acknowledging that sometimes there are no easy answers in life.
No surprise, then, that "Boxers & Saints" has just been awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature.
Yang's subject is the Boxer Rebellion, the anti-foreign, anti-Christian movement that roiled China from 1898 to1900. "Boxers," the first volume in the set, tells the story of Bao, a young man who becomes a leader in the uprising.
"Saints," by contrast, is the tale of Four-Girl, a young woman who has visions of St. Joan of Arc, becomes a Catholic and adopts the name Vibiana. The two characters ultimately come face to face on opposite sides of the political and religious divide.

Book offers excellent overview on religions' take on today's issues

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"World Religious and Contemporary Issues" is, overall, an excellent text suitable for use in adult education classes or undergraduate studies. Brennan R. Hill, the author, is professor emeritus in theology at Xavier University and his experience in teaching shows in the format and ease of use and readability of the book.
Hill begins with an overview of various approaches to the study of religion -- sociological, psychological and theological -- and the major components shared by all religions -- beliefs, rituals and morality. The book examines in some depth these aspects of the five major world systems of belief, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
For each, he narrates its history, insofar as this is known to contemporary scholarship, its core beliefs and hopes for how its followers can achieve its religious goals, personally and societally.
He speaks of the modern movements of each tradition as it has coped with factors such as rational, scientific thought, the massive migrations of peoples over the globe resulting in an intermingling and encounter of their followers with those of other faiths, often a reality not envisioned by the founders or the sacred texts upon which their traditions are based.

'Life-changing' Jerusalem trip was cornerstone for new 'Jesus' book

By Mark Pattison | Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON--Jesuit Father James Martin today has a hard time believing that he initially turned down a suggestion to go to Jerusalem as source material for his newest book, "Jesus: A Pilgrimage."

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"Initially, I didn't want to go because I thought my own mental images of Gospel passages and stories that I'd prayed over for years and years would be supplanted by touristy locales," Father Martin said.
But in heeding a fellow Jesuit's advice, Father Martin discovered his Jerusalem visit "provided a great structure for the book: a little narrative, a little scriptural exegesis and some reflections."

Books offer day-by-day guidance

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It’s not too late to add a a few minutes to your day for devotion and meditation.
Try one of these:

“Through the Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections,” edited by Kevin Cotter. Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, Ind., 2013). 384 pp., $16.95.

“Centering Prayers: A One-Year Daily Companion for Going Deeper into the Love of God” by Peter Traben Haas. Paraclete Press (Orleans, Mass., 2013). 294 pp., $18.99.

'Love and Salt' offers beautiful, bittersweet story told in letters

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"Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship Shared in Letters" is a bittersweet book about conversion, faith, love and loss told in beautifully crafted letters between two young women. It is hard not to treat this book, so uncommonly honest, almost with reverence, for within its pages lies such personal and raw emotion that treating it with anything less would feel wrong.
The book is a collection of nearly three years of letters between Amy Andrews, a writer and mathematics teacher at Northwestern University, and Jessica Mesman Griffith, who is also a writer. Andrews and Griffith met each other in a graduate class and formed a friendship over their mutual interest in writing about God.
One Lenten season, as Andrews was preparing to become a Catholic with Griffith as her sponsor, the two promised each other to write a letter for every day of Lent. And so the correspondence began, but did not stop. Their letters became a forum for their spiritual friendship and as a platform for personal disclosures about life, death, faith and doubt.