Watching her daughter attempt some jazz steps in her ballet school on a snowy afternoon in New York reminds Catherine of her own childhood in Paris, where she and her rather mysterious father lived happily together.

The ideal guide to choosing the right word. Entries go beyond the word lists of a thesaurus, explaining important differences between synonyms. Provides over 17,000 usage examples. Lists antonyms and related words.

As one of the most outstanding Christian thinkers in history, John Henry Newman continues to influence theology, especially Catholic theology, long after his death in 1890. Yet, his writings on faith, particularly The Grammar of Assent, are difficult to read without guidance and direction.

Sometimes all we have is the courage of our convictions. But not all convictions are created equal. In fact, some are downright delusional. And once a foolish notion sinks its teeth into the famous or the powerful, look out–the impact can have profound consequences for the rest of us. So it’s nothing short of gratifying when our most bullheaded and self-righteous leading lights insist on getting their way only to be proven egregiously embarrassingly wrong. From politicians to pontiffs, movie stars to moguls, and artists to inventors, Certitude presents short biographical sketches of notoriously stubborn individuals who were certain they were right–with laughable, disturbing, and often disastrous results. Earning a place among the greatest historical and contemporary bullheads are: •Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican friar who failed to place his own vanities on the bonfire. •Carry A. Nation, the saloon smasher who didn’t have a temperate bone in her teetotaling body. •Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, who lacked the deductive reasoning he bestowed on his own creation. •Joseph Stalin, the hard-line Soviet leader who had a soft spot after all. •Madonna, the queen of pop, who isn’t just a material girl: She’s embraced Kabbalah and the doctrine of reincarnation–in other words, she’ll be back! Informative, irreverent, and brilliantly illustrated by the caricaturist Edward Sorel, Certitude is a book for our time.

By focusing attention on the importance of preaching, this book should spur a fundamental reconsideration of 'scholastic' culture and education.