Articles by Peter Quinn
A comprehensive list of magazine articles penned over the years.
Hard-boiled Valentine
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: March 11, 2011
Download This Article: Commonweal_3.11.11.pdf
Lauretta O'Connor's Hard-boiled Valentine, a review of The Man Who Never Returned.
At the Crossroads
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: January 28, 2011
Download This Article: Commonweal_1.28.11.pdf
Review of Who Occupies This House by Kathleen Hill.
The Road To The White House
From: Irish America magazine
Date: June/July 2010
Download This Article: IrishAmerica_Jun/Jul10.pdf
Mastery of urban politis helped the Irish rise from the huddled mases to the heights of political power..
In Service: Emily Dickinson, Helen Keller & the Irish Help
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: June 18, 2010
Download This Article: Commonweal_6.18.10.pdf
The women behind Emily Dickinson & Helen Keller.
What's the Rush?
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: March 12, 2010
Download This Article: Commonweal_3.12.10.pdf
A discussion of Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church's controversial consideration of his canonization.
A Fervent Melody Struggling To Be Heard
From: Irish America magazine
Date: October/November 2009
Download This Article: IrishAmerica_Oct/Nov09.pdf
A piece on the legacy of San Francisco-based Irish- American scholar and activist, Danny Cassidy.
Frank's Map
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: August 14, 2009
Download This Article: Commonweal_Aug14_09.pdf
Remembering writer Frank McCourt and his complicated views on Catholicism.
Who's the Boss?
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: May 22, 2009
Download This Article: Commonweal_5.22.09.pdf
A review of King of the Bowery: Big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall, and New York City from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era by Richard F. Welch.
Frankie's Secret
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: February 13, 2009
Download This Article: Commonweal_2.13.09.pdf
The forgotten costs of war.
Remembering Danny: The Real Jazz
From: Irish America magazine
Date: December 08/January 09
Download This Article: IA_12.08-1.09.pdf
Peter Quinn remembers Daniel Cassidy, the author of How the Irish Invented Slang, as "a deeply spiritual man of passionate intensity and resonant laughter... a social visionary filled with savage indignation against snobbery, pretense, arrogance..."
Hitler's Doctor
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: May 9, 2008
Download This Article: Commonweal_5.9.08.pdf
A review of 1940 by Jay Neugeboren.
Lavender Hill Mob
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: May 4, 2007
Download This Article: Commonweal_5.4.07.pdf
A review of Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon.
The Gentle Darwinians
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: March 9, 2007
Download This Article: Commonweal_3.9.07.pdf
What Darwin's champions won't mention.
Clement & Loving
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: October 20, 2006
Download This Article: Commonweal 10.20.06.pdf
A review of After This by Alice McDermott.
Hour of the Cat promo ad
From: Time magazine
Date: June 27, 2005
Download This Article: Time 6.27.05.pdf
Overlook Press' promotional ad for the release of Hour of the Cat.
Race Cleansing in America
From: American Heritage magazine
Date: March 2003
Download This Article: American Heritage Mar03.pdf
A nationwide gene-purity movement promoted methods that eventually were adopted by the Third Reich. And everyone from John D. Rockefeller to W.E.B. DuBuis supported it.
The Catholic Novel: Fact Or Fiction?
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: November 8, 2002
Download This Article: Commonweal_11.8.02.pdf
An essay adapted from the Fourth Annual Russo Lecture sponsored by Fordham University's Archbishop Hughes Institute for Religion and Culture.
Dear Disagreeable New York
From: America magazine
Date: January 31-February 7, 1998
Download This Article: America_1.31-2.7.98.pdf
The real skinny on America's most consistently and wonderfully disagreeable town.
The Tradegy of Bridget Such-A-One
From: American Heritage magazine
Date: December 1997
Download This Article: American Heritage Dec97.pdf
A hundred and fifty years ago famine in Ireland fostered a desperate, unprecedented mass migration to America. Neither country has been the same since.
Long Day's Journey From Rome
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: October 24, 1997
Download This Article: Commonweal 10.24.97.pdf
A book review of Down the Nights and Down the Days: Eugene O'Neill's Catholic Sensibility by Edward L. Shaughnessy.
It's Coming On Christmas: Schlock & The Incarnation
From: Commonweal magazine
Date: December 18, 1987
Download This Article: Commonweal_12.18.87.pdf
One man's unique musings on the Christmas season. Watch out jolly Old St. Nick!
The Gathering Gloom:
Is 1929 About To Happen Again?
From: America magazine
Date: August 29-September 5, 1987
Download This Article: America_8.29-9.5.87.pdf
Those aren't acorns dropping out of the heavens; they are the harbingers for the despondent stockbrokers and investment bankers of the Great-Crash-to-Come.
In Search of Protestants
From: The New York Times
Date: March 16, 1985
Download This Article: NYT_3.16.85.pdf
A Bronx boy's puzzlement in the 1950's