‘This was the first Memorial Day.’

COVER STORY: Given the racial trauma that continues to roil our American landscape, we believe it is important to cover Pulitzer-Prize-winning Yale historian David Blight’s ongoing campaign to correct our history books and give credit to newly freed African Americans for establishing our post-Civil War tradition known to us now as Memorial Day. Please read our cover story, which describe’s Blight’s research and gives linked examples of many ways our historical record is being corrected. And, please, share this timely story with friends via social media and email.

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Why Books Matter in a Turbulent World

Our Books Powerfully Shape our Lives

THE GREEN DEDICATION, shown above, marks a special edition of book for caregivers in our communities. This Front Edge Publishing column by Dmitri Barvinok explains how that special edition of this book was designed—and why books are so memorable and influential in our lives.

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A Family Whose Story Circles the World

SUZY FARBMAN’s GOD-SIGNS columns are always a ray of sunshine and that’s certainly true in mid-May. This week, she shares the second half of her two-part column about a family whose adventures have circled the world.

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Remembering those we lost

EVERY WEEK, we hear from our writers and our readers about timely links they hope we will share with readers in our next weekly issue of this online magazine. Of course, this week, our “inbox” was filled with reflections on the massacre in Texas and the subsequent National Rifle Association repudiation of any new gun-control measures. We’ve decided to share two reflections that our readers have recommended …

FIRST—An impassioned column by Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee, which echoes the moral outrage expressed by many of our other writers and many of our readers, this week.

AND—Many of our readers follow the ongoing work of contemporary hymn writer Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, who makes her work available to congregations nationwide. Currently, the top four links of Carolyn’s website address resources for congregations wanting to reflect on the tragedy of gun violence.

FINALLY—Our Faith & Film writer Edward McNulty recommends that viewers watch the documentary 91% that focuses on the overwhelming American consensus that background checks should be required for gun sales. (Currently it can be rented for streaming via Amazon.)

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Faith & Film

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

• ON GUN VIOLENCE—This week, Ed recommends viewing three films about gun violence in America. First, he reaches back and points out that the 1989 documentary Bowling for Columbine is as relevant today as it was when originally released. More recent is the documentary 91%, which features interviews with a wide cross section of Americans and makes the point that there is nearly unanimous consensus on the need for more effective background checks on gun buyers. Finally, he recommends Behind the Gun, a documentary that explores the impact of guns from the perspective of people who have fired them.
• DOWNTON ABBEY—Ed writes, “Let me say right up front that this addition to the Julian Fellowes’ franchise ought to please fans of this beloved series. In fact, thanks to the story line unfolding at the magnificent estate itself, it is better than the previous enjoyable 2019 film.”
• HAPPENING—”Pro-choice advocates fearful of the consequences of a nation-wide ban on abortion would do well to promote Audrey Diwan’s adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s semi-autobiographical 2000 novel of the same name L’événement.”
• PETIT MAMAN—”Céline Sciamma has written and directed a memorable—whether parable, ghost story, or fairy tale I cannot say—that depends entirely on two child actors for its effect.”
• EMERGENCY—”At first glance, this film might look like Animal House Meets Get Out, but it is far more serious than the former, and a bit more realistic than the latter, even though it also is somewhat of a farce, a very delightful one at that.”
• THE SURVIVOR—”Just when you think you have seen every variation of a Holocaust story, along comes another that adds a new bit of knowledge and horror at how cruel a human can be and how strong is the will to survive—such is this film, based on the book Harry Haft, written by his oldest son Alan Scott Haft.”
• THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY—Ed writes, “In the twilight of his years Samuel Jackson again proves what a consummate actor he is in this adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel, one that focuses more on character development than on crime.”
• FIREBIRD—”This British-Estonian LGBTQ+ love story is adapted by director and co-writer Peeter Rebane from The Story of Roman, a memoir by Russian actor Sergey Fetisov. It has been suggested that it is a Broke Back Mountain meets Top Gun.”
• THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY—”I was delighted to find on Netflix this production directed by one of my favorite English directors, Mike Newell. We learn of the book club with the unwieldly name through a series of flashbacks to World War II.”
• SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE—Netflix now is streaming two dozen episodes of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 2015-19 TV series, Servant of the People. Ed McNulty writes about the “life-imitates-art” experience of watching this series in the midst of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. There are two parts: Here is Part 1: Ed’s commentary on the opening episodes. Then, here is Part 2: Ed’s follow up, focusing on later episodes.

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