The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Join friends of the Bookman in New York City on December 8, 2025 for the Gerald Russello Memorial Lecture.

William F. Buckley Jr.: Literary Figure 

“…the American public intellectual might best be appreciated as a literary figure. Producing about 350,000 words for publication yearly at the peak of his career, Buckley was never at a loss for what to say or how to say it.”

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 Urbanity of Russell Kirk

“The urban fabric must also be mended and darned through continuous upkeep. The city is not yours to experiment. From Russell to Russello, our ancestral spirits cast their shadows whether or not we choose to observe the city of god in the cities of men.”

Buckley and Edwards: The Titan of Conservatism and His Titan of a Biographer

“By examining the major individual intellectual influences in Buckley’s life, Edwards is able to organically put together the various strands and ideas that became known as ‘fusionism’ without a lengthy or pedantic philosophical explanation.”

Robert Nisbet’s The Social Philosophers Revisited: Conservative Pluralism versus the Mania for Unity

“…Nisbet shows that freedom and nobility (or excellence) can only survive when civic and social pluralism allows authentic human individuality and real (as opposed to ideologically-induced) community ample room to flourish.”

Not Only Narnia: Lewis as Political Thinker

The Intellectual World of C. S. Lewis by Alister E. McGrath. Wiley-Blackwell, 2014. Paperback, 191 pages, $36. C. S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law by Justin Buckley Dyer and Micah J. Watson. Cambridge University Press, 2016. Paperback, 160 pages, $27. GARY L....

An Iron Lady Recast

Margaret Thatcher: Shaping the New Conservatism by Meredith Veldman. Oxford University Press, 2016. Paperback, 232 pages, $16.95. CHRIS BUTYNSKYI The clock is counting down in England. Brexit (the exit of Britain from the European Union) is set to officially begin at...

The Evangelical Political Mind

American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism by Matthew Avery Sutton. Belknap Press, 2014 (2017). Paperback, 480 pages, $23. MATTHEW STOKES So much of the recent scholarly work done on evangelicals has focused on correlating characteristics of evangelicals:...

A Coat of Varnish

A Coat of Varnish

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson. W. W. Norton & Company, 2017. Hardcover, 592 pages, $40. Reviewed by John Byron Kuhner Genius, said Goethe, reveals itself under conditions of constraint; great minds gather strength from limitation, be it the keys...

Zuckerberg’s Philosopher

The Orange Trees of Marrakesh: Ibn Khaldun and the Science of Man by Stephen Frederic Dale. Harvard University Press, 2015. Hardcover, 400 pages, $31. JAMES KALB This book, written, by an emeritus professor at Ohio State, is a useful and quite readable companion to...

Sparring Theists

Five Proofs of the Existence of God by Edward Feser. Ignatius Press, 2017. Paperback, 336 pages, $20. CASEY CHALK Almost fifteen years ago, Sam Harris’s best-seller The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reasoninaugurated what became known as the New...

A Liberal Pope for a Conservative Church

To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism by Ross Douthat. Simon & Schuster, 2018. Hardcover, 256 pages, $26. Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis Is Misleading His Flock by Philip F. Lawler. Regnery Gateway, 2018. Hardcover, 256 pages, $27....

The Bible Refreshed

The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible by Sarah Ruden. Pantheon Books, 2017. Hardcover, 232 pages, $27. ELIZABETH BITTNER “I have no formal qualifications whatsoever as a biblical scholar—not one degree, not even a single course credit.”...

On Aristotle: Impressive Interpretations

Aristotelian Interpretations by Fran O’Rourke. Irish Academic Press, 2016. Hardcover, 376 pages, $75. JAMES V. SCHALL, S. J. “The power of symbolic signification is possible only because the human mind has an unlimited openness to the entirety of reality, and can thus...

The Book Gallery

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