The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Support the University Bookman during our annual Kirktober Fundraiser, and receive an audio copy of Kirk’s short story, What Shadows We Pursue.

Kirktober 2025: James Panero and Adam Simon on the Haunted House

October 28, 2025

On Tuesday, October 28, at 6:00 PM, you are invited to join University Bookman editor Luke Sheahan, Hollywood screenwriter Adam Simon, and New Criterion executive editor James Panero, as they explore the theme of the haunted house in gothic literature and its relationship to conservative thought and imagination.

Register for this free webinar here.

Defending the Christian Faith

“In 100 Tough Questions For Catholics: Common Obstacles To Faith Today… David G. Bonagura, Jr. gives bite-sized answers to dozens of big questions about the faith.”

The Other Greek Woman

“Felson’s Penelope, who seems, in all probability, very close to Homer’s Penelope, is the faithful wife of Odysseus, but she is also the independent and flirtatious matriarch who rules over her household and teases the suitors, whom she views as her ‘geese.’”

Following Dante’s Footsteps

“For Krause, poetry has always been about love—about the heavens and the burning passion of the human heart that thirsts after the embodiment of Love itself. This longing, he argues, anticipates the coming of Christ… All of literature and poetry, in this view, gesture toward incarnation…”

Suicide Narratives and the Goodness of Being

“Lockerd, drawing on the literary resources of the Catholic tradition, suggests a different tack: perhaps the essential goodness of reality does not always demand a leap into the unknown, a venture of faith against all odds. Rather, that goodness might be glimpsed everywhere around us.”

The Revolution That Did Not End in Blood

by JP O’Malley | Nov 4, 2018

JP O’Malley interviews historian Antonia Fraser about her recent book on Catholic emancipation in the UK.

Christian Martyrs in the First Islamic States

by Jane Peters | Nov 4, 2018

Jane Peters reviews a book on Christians martyred during the first two centuries of the rise of Islam.

His Old Kentucky Home

by Miles Smith | Nov 4, 2018

Miles Smith welcomes a helpful new political biography of five-time Presidential candidate Henry Clay.

Orpheus Britannicus

by R. J. Stove | Oct 28, 2018

R. J. Stove is relieved to welcome Tim Rayborn’s new volume correcting the historical treatment of twentieth-century British music and the English Musical Renaissance.