The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

The Wolfe Who Cried Kirk

In the pages of the once-respectable New Republic, Alan Wolfe has written a scurrilous attack on Russell Kirk in the guise of a review of the recently published collection entitled The Essential Russell Kirk. The review is noteworthy not for its ugliness or completely...

Tiber, Thames, Potomac

That the First Amendment establishes a “separation” between church and state throughout all levels of government has long been a stubborn myth of American life, shared by both nativists and, at least since the early part of the last century, most liberals. Philip...

Awakening the Moral Imagination

Fall 1999 If the events of the past year have demonstrated anything it is the moral and intellectual impoverishment of the American people. From Monica to Littleton the tragic consequences of this fact have been played out on a dizzying scale. Sadly, the road back...

Gerald Russello: The Man Who Did It All

“Gerald believed deeply in the power of the conservative imagination, and I believe the essays and reviews in this volume showcase one dedicated man’s imagination at its best, working to preserve the Permanent Things for the next generation and beyond.”

Russello Classic: The Age of Addiction

Gerald J. Russello reviews a book on the cultivation of consumer desire and its discontents.

The Fourth Awokening and Its Discontents

“Each of the ‘Great Awokenings’ thus have a common cause: elite overproduction, a situation in which there are more people who feel entitled to elite positions than there are such positions available.”

Swimming in the Secular Fishbowl 

Swimming in the Secular Fishbowl 

“Davignon’s persuasive analysis makes a valuable contribution to the study of secularization and religion by moving the conversation away from ethereal ideas and into the daily reality of people’s lives. Secularity is not the musings of professors in an ivory tower… It is more like the water in a fishbowl…”

Why America Needs to Rediscover American Exceptionalism

Why America Needs to Rediscover American Exceptionalism

“…Edwardsson traces the historical development of American exceptionalism and how it has changed throughout our history. Further, Edwardsson argues that the traditional view of American exceptionalism… has been undermined as a result of political ideology from both the political left and right.”

Portrait of an Artist

Portrait of an Artist

“The work of the Welsh artist Gwen John (1876-1939) has recently re-emerged from relative obscurity. This is due to two fine exhibitions in England in 2023… and a new book of her life by Alicia Foster, curator of those exhibitions… Collectively, they offer a welcome appreciation of the delicate and often brilliant paintings of an artist and complex personality who underwent both professional and spiritual trials in her fascinating life…”

Against the New Deal

Against the New Deal

“…editor Shlaes, biographer of Calvin Coolidge and historian of both the Great Depression and the New Deal, refuses to pull any punches. Yes, the New Deal ‘failed,’ but then ‘so did its critics.’” 

Correcting the Historical Record on Slavery

Correcting the Historical Record on Slavery

“Slavery, in fact, was everywhere for the vast majority of human history, and it still survives in places today. While Western civilization deserves credit for helping end it, the Catholic Church stands alone in both its early recognition and its consistent conviction that slavery is evil.”

History of the American Revolution Well Told

History of the American Revolution Well Told

“This new edition of a book on one of the most important subjects in American diplomatic history by one of the leading practitioners in the field should remind readers how important—and downright fascinating—such works can be.”

Virtue in the Age of Neo-Machiavellianism

Virtue in the Age of Neo-Machiavellianism

“For Hankins the notion of a new nobility based upon merit—not class or blood, on one hand, nor ‘equity,’ on the other—is one of Patrizi’s most important messages for America today. Hankins, throughout the book, presents the optimistic case that such a vision of a virtuous, meritocratic Republic is the way forward for America.”

Crafting a New Evangelical Imagination

Crafting a New Evangelical Imagination

“The result of a Christian subculture so deeply infused with Victorian era sentimentalism is that evangelicalism became less an intellectual theological system and more ‘a religion of the heart.'”

The Book Gallery

A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.

A (Gerald) Russello Classic: The Age of Addiction
The late editor of @ubookman reviews "How Technology and Marketing Revolutionized Desire" by Gary S. Cross and Robert N. Proctor. @UChicagoPress

Why is free speech an indispensable right?

On Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m., join @ubookman Editor @lsheahan and @JonathanTurley to discuss the history and philosophy of free speech.

Register: https://tinyurl.com/4k2ucwp9

Load More

Shop through Regnery
Support the Kirk Center
& University Bookman