Celebrate “Kirktober”
Support The University Bookman
Since it was founded by Russell Kirk six decades ago, The University Bookman has continued to examine the most important books of our time. Here we offer clear and reflective book reviews in light of the “permanent things” that constitute the best of Western civilization. We do so for general readers across the United States and the world—those who, while not specialists, are interested in higher culture and the life of the mind and spirit.
But our work is only made possible by the generous donations of our friends and readers.
For the first and only time this year, we are asking for your support in order to raise $20,000 for operating costs. This amount will cover publishing expenses through the spring of 2025.
What will these funds be used for?
- To pay reviewers (average monthly expense is $1,200)
- To cover website hosting costs, email service, webinar costs, and production software costs
- For our communication staff’s work
The editors nobly volunteer their time for the good of the cause. And some reviewers forgo their honorarium to stretch the journal’s bandwidth. All contributions go towards the direct costs of running the journal.
As you may know, October has been nicknamed “Kirktober” by some Russell Kirk readers in honor of his birthday on October 19. And the Book Gallery hosts a lively discussion focused on Kirk’s supernatural fiction each October. We hope to be able to announce that the goal of $20,000 has been reached by All Soul’s Day. At that successful conclusion, we will release an audio recording of a Kirk short story as read by one of his former literary assistants.
Longtime reader Jack Fowler remarked:
“As our culture is buffeted by attacks from Marxists and ideologues and the foes of civil order, intent on the destruction of the American Project, conservatism has a pressing need for meaningful and reasoned examination of the principles that underwrite a free society. The University Bookman, an old and wise friend, a jewel, has never been more needed than now. A dedicated platform for the discussion of new books that deserve a hearing in the public square, University Bookman is a place of sanity and intelligence and honesty.”
By making a contribution, you join this important endeavor to renew our culture and redeem our time.
The University Bookman is the online journal of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity. All donations are tax-deductible.
To make a donation through direct deposit or a donor advised fund, contact info@kirkcenter.org.
If you would like to donate by check to support the University Bookman, please send it to:
The Russell Kirk Center
P.O. Box 4
Mecosta, Michigan 49332
Read More Bookman Articles
Correcting the Record
In her enjoyable new book, Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First, Mona Charen quotes the response of the historian Henry Steele Commager to President Reagan’s famous “evil empire” speech in March 1983....
Literary Virtue and Vice
“Griffis, Ooms, and Roberts offer practices of thought and attention that those eager to read deeply would do well to implement. Yet those eager to learn how Christianity ought to inform their reading and thinking would do well to consult other writers less concerned with rehearsing the language of our milieu, such as C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, T.S. Eliot, Dana Gioia.”
JP O’Malley Interviews Author Maurice Samuels
“‘Dreyfus’s Jewishness played a major role’ in convincing many within the army hierarchy to believe he was a traitor and a spy, Samuels stresses… This, in essence, is the main thesis put forward in [the book]. ‘Clearly, you cannot write about this case without mentioning the fact that Dreyfus was Jewish, or bringing up the role of antisemitism,’ the historian points out.”
The Left Wing Patriot
“A man of the left and an American patriot, [Peretz] is a rare bird today—and, therefore, possibly even a controversial one, not to mention an iconoclastic one.”