Down the Nights and Down the Days

“This book is a lucid and humane exploration of American Catholic cultural sensibility. It is also an extremely rewarding read in its own right. The book should be ordered by every librarian who serves the needs of serious English-speaking students from the ages of 16 to 90 who study or read drama, American literature, or religious history.” —Literature and Theology

“Shaughnessy carefully examines the impact of O’Neill’s enduring Catholic mindset on specific plays and, in doing so, enriches our understanding of these works. He puts in perspective as never before the tension between O’Neill’s despair and his desire to believe. Edward Shaughnessy’s achievement is to give us an eloquent, insightful, sympathetic perspective on O’Neill’s relationship to the Catholic faith that is utterly free of academic polemicizing or sectarian axe-grinding. This is a book that will be of enduring interest to readers and scholars of O’Neill, to students of the theater, and to pilgrim souls of every kind.” —Commonweal