These little books I write, such as The End of Freedom, about the post-9/11 political climate in the United States, sell in the hundreds of thousands of copies. Whereas, I hear novels on marriage are not selling. This is perhaps not the judgment of God, but it is certainly that of history.

Most writers are middle-class and are the children of doctors or lawyers.

I don't see us winning the war. We have made enemies of one billion Muslims.

Congress no longer declares war or makes budgets. So that's the end of the constitution as a working machine.

World events are the work of individuals whose motives are often frivolous, even casual.

In a society like ours, politics is improvisation. To the artful dodger rather than the true believer goes the prize.

To a born-again atheist like myself, it is clear that each of us has multiple selves, talents, perceptions. But to the Roman Catholic, unity is all.