The University Bookman
Reviewing Books that Build Culture
Casting Extras in The Truman Show
Titus Techera looks back on the prophetic appeal of The Truman Show after twenty years.
The Price of the Peculiar Institution
Casey Chalk reviews a book on the costs of American slavery, its lingering effects, and the role of the North.
Ancient Walls and New Bridges
Hungarian Ambassador Eduard Habsburg walks Rome’s Aurelian Wall and reflects on the sensual fascination of old walls.
Can Bureaucrats Be Virtuous?
John Ehrett reviews Bernardo Zacka’s surprisingly humane look at the inner life and professional dysfunction of the front-line bureaucrat.
A Rewarding Experience Awaits
Stephen Schmalhofer spends time with an art retrospective guided by famed Met curator Philippe de Montebello.
Haiti’s Role in the American Civil War
Kyle Sammin reviews Carl Lawrence Paulus’s new take on foreign influences on American slavery leading to the Civil War.
On Dragon Hunting
Father Schall helps readers reflect on the questions raised by Heywood Broun’s 1921 short story, “The Fifty-First Dragon.”
Persuasion in the Age of Twitter
David G. Bonagura, Jr. welcomes a new edition that applies Cicero’s advice on rhetoric to a distracted age.
Two Cheers for Ultramontanism
Tyler Dobbs reviews John O’Malley’s riveting new history of the First Vatican Council and the nineteenth century emphasis on papal primacy.
The Book Gallery
A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.