Kudos to Ian Morris, Father Gregory Boyle, from P.E.N.
Friday, September 30th, 2011
We’ve written about Ian Morris‘s Why the West Rules – for Now (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) here and here and here.
Now he has a new honor: he’s just bagged P.E.N. USA’s award for “research nonfiction.” The Economist said Why the West Rules – for Now is a “remarkable book” that “uses history and an overarching theory to address the anxieties of the present.” The New York Times called Morris “a lucid thinker and a fine writer,” covering disease, famine, migration, agriculture, industry, and climate change “with the humor and detail of a sportscaster.”
The “creative nonfiction” award went to Father Gregory Boyle for Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (Free Press) his recollection of his work, for over two decades, reforming gang youth in Los Angeles county. The Jesuit priest’s Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention program in the country, offering job training, tattoo removal, and employment to members of enemy gangs. The Los Angeles Times predicted the book is “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality.”
Meanwhile, a video of Ian talking about his book below.
