Molly Finn

The Book of Marriage undertakes to provide an overview of one of the greatest human institutions at a time when its future is uncertain. This year, for the first time, fewer than 25 percent of American households consist of a married couple and their children. (Admittedly, the significance of this . . . . Continue Reading »

The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim. By Richard Pollak.Simon & Schuster. 478 pages, $28. Bettelheim: A Life and a Legacy. By Nina Sutton.Basic Books. 606 pages, $35. When Bruno Bettelheim committed suicide in 1990 at the age of 86 he had a towering and broadly based reputation: . . . . Continue Reading »

Life as We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child By Michael Bérubé. Pantheon, 284 pages, $24. Michael Bérubé, a professor of American and African-American literature at the University of Illinois and, since 1991, the father of a son with Down syndrome, has produced a thick, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Cloister Walkby kathleen norris riverhead books, 304 pages, $23.95 I had read Norris’ previous book, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, and enjoyed the way she consistently unites the exalted and the mundane, finding manifestations of the holy in the most ordinary events and objects. In The . . . . Continue Reading »

The Hungry Soul: Eating and the Perfecting of our Nature By Leon R. Kass Free Press. 248 pp. $24.95 Dr. Kass begins: “Be forewarned: You have picked up a strange book.” He is correct; it is strange. It is a book about eating, but not once will your mouth water as you read it. It’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Some years ago, during a spell of back trouble, I spent half an hour being wheeled around an airport in a wheelchair. For a few minutes I was alone, parked in the wheelchair in a busy lobby. The few minutes were memorable because they gave me a glimpse into the world of people whose disabilities . . . . Continue Reading »

The greatest challenge the biographer faces is to grasp and reveal the inner life of his subject. His task is simplified when he chooses a subject visibly engaged in great public events of his time—wars, politics, social reform, for example. If the biographer is good at what he does, he will . . . . Continue Reading »

Of all the many states of mind, disorders, and aberrations of man, autism is certainly among the most mysterious. Autistic people give one an uncanny feeling. They provide a vivid reminder that no person can ever fully fathom the mystery of another. Autistic people spend a good part of their energy . . . . Continue Reading »