ALL BOOKS
Out of Time: Surviving the Sixties
(2020)
OUT OF TIME: SURVIVING THE SIXTIES is a memoir of a turbulent decade that remains iconic in the American imagination, especially in the wake of the troubled Spring and Summer of 2020, which in a recent Wall Street Journal column Daniel Henninger compared to 1967 by writing, “It was like the Summer of Love…without the Love.”
Set in a still bucolic Long Island, at a boarding school on Narragansett Bay, in San Francisco, Woodstock, Washington and at Minnesota Outward Bound, OUT OF TIME: SURVIVING THE SIXTIES chronicles a coming of age filled with intensity, uncertainty, radicalized politics, and the search for drugs, sex, rock ‘n roll, and God.
Worlds Within Worlds
A Fathers's Poems and Prayers
(2017)
In Worlds Within Worlds: A Father’s Poems and Prayers, James P. MacGuire’s poems celebrate the joys and challenges of love, marriage, fatherhood, children, work, loss, sorrow, doubt, and ultimately, resilient faith.
With settings in New York, the Long Island shore, New England, Florida, Colorado, and Ireland, MacGuire’s poetry is alive with the seen and the unseen, the natural and the supernatural, quotidian realities, and sublimely spiritual illuminations.
Real Lace Revisited
Inside the Hidden World of America’s Irish Aristocracy
(2017)
Here is a revisitation—part tribute, part update—of Stephen Birmingham’s much-loved Real Lace. James P. MacGuire, a member of one of Birmingham’s Irish Families, creates his own entertaining portrait of life among the Irish Rich, further detailing and filling out this engrossing portion of America’s social history.
Real Lace Revisited chronicles the religious, financial, and social evolution of the First Irish Families’ world: its rise, peak, decline, fall, and, in some cases, transformative rebirth. Rather than a memoir, however, the book reads as an informed historical nonfiction account of the upper-class Irish world as it grew and changed. Real Lace Revisited is always accessible and highly readable, enlivened by MacGuire’s gift for storytelling, encyclopedic knowledge, and often humorous insight into the families concerned.
Catholicism and the American Experience (2014)
What does it mean to be Catholic in America? Catholicism and the American Experience features essays from Robert George, Peter Steinfels, George Weigel, E. J. Dionne, and many more, exploring the unique elements of American Catholicism. The volume highlights the proceedings of the fifth annual Portsmouth Institute conference.
This collection of essays addresses the topic of Catholicism and the American Experience from diverse points of view. They discuss thorny topics such as the relationship between the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and religious freedom, what it means to be Catholic in a secular age, and the current state of Catholic art. Essays also explore subjects ranging from New Evangelization in the church to Catholic leadership.
The Catholic William F. Buckley, Jr.
(2014)
William F. Buckley, Jr. was a prominent conservative American political commentator who was known for his rhetorical brilliance and frequent wit. In his eighty-two- plus years, he founded National Review, wrote fifty-five books, thousands of columns, hosted hundreds of Firing Line television shows, and became recognized as the founder of the modern conservative movement. The first major conference on William F. Buckley, Jr. was convened by the Portsmouth Institute, in 2009, specifically to explore the role William F. Buckley, Jr.'s Catholic faith played in the formation of his thought and work. This volume of the Portsmouth Review, edited by Portsmouth Institute director James MacGuire, contains the proceedings of that conference with contributions by James L. Buckley, Peter Flanigan, Father George Rutler, Maggie Gallagher, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Roger Kimball, Joseph Bottum, E.J. Dionne, Lee Edwards, Clark Judge and Neal Freeman. There are additional articles by Christopher Buckley and Doms Damian Kearney and Paschal Scotti O.S.B.
William F. Buckley, Jr., though blessed with an impervious faith, was not always predictable in his Catholic views. He resisted reforms of Vatican II, questioned many of the Church’s teachings, and was the first to confess that he was no theologian. With all this in mind, The Catholic William F. Buckley Jr. is an essential resource for understanding what animated and inspired one of the great public intellectuals of the second half of the 20st century.
Modern Science, Ancient Faith
(2013)
Modern Science, Ancient Faith brings together the proceedings of the annual Portsmouth Institute conference. The Modern Science, Ancient Faith conference asked tough questions, such as whether or not faith can exist in a world where science demonstrates ever more details of creation and the evolution of human life? And, is there a place for science among those who believe that the Book of Genesis is God’s inspired revelation?This volume includes contributions from a range of perspectives, including scientists, philosophers, and theologians. It features essays from noted commentators on the science and religion debate, such as John Haught lecture Evolution and Faith, William Dembski on a proof of God’s existence, and Michael Ruse on how we can make room for faith in our increasingly technological age. Modern Science, Ancient Faith brings readers into lively debate about thorny, yet essential, questions of faith and reason today.
The Catholic Shakespeare?
(2013)
Was Shakespeare Catholic?
By observing Shakespeare’s history and his plays evidence suggests that he was sympathetic to the Catholics’ plight. He had personal connections to people who were persecuted for their faith and throughout his plays there is evidence of a Catholic worldview. The Catholic Shakespeare? gives an inside look at the 2011 Portsmouth Institute conference, offering different takes from speakers to Shakespearean plays. Each speaker offers compelling evidence and some suggestions about the basis and meaning behind his plays as they relate to a Catholic view. Dr. Gerard Kilroy, University College, London, assembles linguistic and thematic cues to suggest Romeo and Juliet as an allegory for believers and the Catholic Church. Dennis Taylor, Boston College, takes a more historical approach in his review of Shakespeare's play The Tempest, tracing Catholic links to early efforts to explore the Americas. And, finally, Fr. David Beauregard, St. Clement seminary, takes a religious and philosophical look at relationships, charity, and the development of virtue in The Tempest. The Catholic Shakespeare is a must-read for anyone interested in the mystery behind Shakespeare’s religion.
Newman and the Intellectual Tradition
(2013)
Newman and the Intellectual Tradition highlights the proceedings of the 2010 Portsmouth Institute on Newman and the Intellectual Tradition. John Henry Newman was an Anglican priest for two decades in the 1800s, and was one of the founders of the Oxford Movement, which sought to reinvigorate the Church of England. In 1845 he left the Anglican Church to convert to Roman Catholicism. He was ordained a priest soon after, and was elevated to Cardinal in 1879. The richness of Newman’s thought and the felicity of his prose remain powerful and provocative today. This book includes speeches, articles, and thoughts about Newman from a distinguished array of speakers. They successfully explore Cardinal Newman’s far-ranging life and thought. For anyone wanting to further their own understanding of Cardinal Newman’s character this is a must-read.
Miracle in East Harlem: The Fight for Choice in Public Education
(with Seymour Fliegel, 1993)
Miracle in East Harlem is the story of how the public schools of one of New York City's poorest neighborhoods broke a decades-long pattern of defeat, failure, and frustration to become centers of learning and hope. Seymour Fliegel, a former deputy superintendent of District Four in East Harlem and one of the driving forces behind this renaissance, tells how a core of dedicated teachers and eager students rescued the local schools from their persistent status as the worst in the city. In time, District Four's success would propel superintendent Anthony Alvarado to the chancellorship of the New York City public school system and earn a MacArthur "genius grant" for Deborah Meier, one of its most innovative principals. Fliegel himself has become one of the nation's leading authorities on educational innovation.
Central to East Harlem's transformation was the institution of "choice." Since 1982 students and parents in District Four have actively selected the schools they wish to attend, rather than being assigned based on where they live. These new "alternative schools" are smaller and more thematically oriented than traditional schools, and those that fail to attract enough students or meet the district's new standards are disbanded and replaced by other programs. The results have been immediate and striking, all the more so because the neighborhood's student body remains among the poorest school populations in the nation. Indeed, today District Four is a model for other communities, rich and poor alike, and is regularly cited by Republicans and Democrats as the shining example of how choice can work in urban public schools.
Through this heartwarming, real-life success story, Fliegel and James MacGuire make a convincing case for public school choice. They show that if it can happen in East Harlem, it can happen anywhere.
