Welcome Home to the Russell Kirk Center
Strengthening America’s Tradition of Order, Justice & Freedom
The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal aims to recover, conserve, and enliven those enduring norms and principles that Russell Kirk (1918–1994) called the Permanent Things. Explore the Center’s programs, publications, and fellowships and join with us to continue Kirk’s work to renew our culture and redeem our time.
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At the Kirk Center
Events
September 29: Book Gallery — 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love with Christopher Scalia
October 23: Educational Event at the Gerald R. Ford Foundation — William F. Buckley Jr. at 100
October 28: Book Gallery — Kirktober 2025: James Panero and Adam Simon on the Haunted House
November 19: Prize Gala at the National Press Club in Washington, DC —The Richard D. McLellan Prizes for Advancing Free Speech & Expression
Mecosta House Books
Explore Mecosta House
At Mecosta House, we aim to combine with the Kirk Center’s programs to foster an intellectual community dedicated to exploring the wisdom of our predecessors while forging a new conservative humanism.
We hope our readers will be edified by the titles we publish, and that they will strengthen the programs and the courses we will introduce at the Kirk Center as part of our School of Conservative Studies. David Hein’s Teaching the Virtues offers a fresh look at a perennial educational aim—encouraging virtue in the next generation, and we are proud to present it as our first book.
From the University Bookman
Political Economy Before Adam Smith
“…[the book] is a compilation of various tracts on the intersection of commerce and statecraft—many of which are snapshots of McCulloch’s own free-market beliefs—that serve as a compelling precursor of Smithian political economy.”
Latest Pieces
Science and Meaning: Parallel Tracks?
“Science is not the sort of activity that can answer the question, ‘Does life have meaning?’ To expect science to answer that question is like expecting your plumber to tell you whether installing fancier bathroom fixtures will make you happier.
Geopolitics and the Making of the Modern World
“Brands’s book should find a ready audience among those interested in developments in the international scene over the last century. It is particularly effective in dealing with the threat that China’s emerging power and influence pose to the West today…”
The Context for Human Dignity
“While the twentieth century was still sporadically marked by remnants of Christian influence and dominance, the twenty-first has seen the final divorce of the secular and sacred, and the consequences are evident. What Leo XIII warned of, the evils he battled, have been let loose, paradigmatically captured by Artificial Intelligence which poorly imitates and devalues that which makes us essentially human… We would do well then to read Hittinger’s book in reflecting on how to face these challenges.”
Between Greatness and Hubris
“At the core of [the book] is the notion that while America is an exceptional nation, we are not immune from the perils that beset past countries and empires.”
Protestant Institutionalism and Christian America
“…Smith provides a thematic overview of the period between 1800 and 1860. His book is somewhat unique in that whereas many debates concern the religious character of the Founding or the Founders, Smith is concerned with the period afterwards.”
About the Bookman
For six decades, the University Bookman, founded by Russell Kirk, has identified and discussed those books that diagnose the modern age and support the renewal of culture and the common good. Currently published online, the Bookman continues its mission of examining our times in light of the Permanent Things that make us human.
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