The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Celebrate “Kirktober” by Supporting The University Bookman

Help us reach our $20k goal this “Kirktober”

Hope—Is It Warranted at This Point?

“The past generation of American life, on Hunter’s account, has been one of intensifying ‘exhaustion’ and distrust, as the sources of pluralism have multiplied, and the endlessly ‘worked-through’ soil of the hybrid-Enlightenment has come to seem dry and depleted, no longer able to provide plausible accounts of human nature and the meaning of history that a majority of Americans can sign onto.”

The Life of Joseph Epstein

“This might have been a highly political book detailing the evolution of a conventional Cold War liberal into the conservative that he is regarded as being (even if he doesn’t label himself as such in these pages). It might have been, but it isn’t. No, this memoir was written simply because Epstein sees his life as ’emblematic of the times’ and secondly because he sees himself as having acquired the literary skill necessary to ‘recount that life well.'”

How to Turn Back the Clock on Constitutional Law

Recovering the Founders’ Constitutional Order

“The founders, in their affirmation of the rule of law and the principle of consent, resoundingly rejected modernity’s embrace of unlimited and largely arbitrary state power. Such a rejection depends ultimately on man being made in the image and likeness of the Christian creator God…”

Natural Law in the Protestant Tradition

Natural Law in the Protestant Tradition

“Jensen’s recent book… makes an important contribution to the aforementioned Aufklärung of Protestant natural law, particularly for the way in which it situates the Wittenberg reformer’s various statements about natural law in historical and polemical context rather than painting a picture of… seamless development…”

Identity Politics as Ersatz Religion

Identity Politics as Ersatz Religion

“As Mitchell sees it, there is only one path back from the ‘debilitating pathology’ of identity politics. It is for a community of thoughtful individuals to build, or rebuild, a society of honest ‘face-to-face’ relationships and a ‘politics of competence,’ and thereby restore a society in which individuals are judged on virtue, merit, and conduct rather than affiliation with one or more distinct identity groups.”

From The Quest for Community to the Restoration of Authority

The Quest for Community at 70

“Democracy, as Nisbet imagined it, was not the opposite of fascism and communism, but, in its essence, possibly as totalitarian as either, just in a kinder, more gentle fashion.”

Kirk 101: The Politics of Prudence

Kirk 101: The Politics of Prudence

“The vision of Politics of Prudence is as an inoculation against the ‘sham religion and sham philosophy’ of ideology. It is not a better ideology that we need, but rather none at all.”

The Book Gallery

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

We're pleased to share that our Kirktober campaign in support of @ubookman is already off to a great start. $1k raised and counting from 17 supporters. Help us continue to review the books that shape culture by getting involved here: https://buff.ly/3XBZT1O

Kirktober is right around the corner, and for the first and only time this year, we're asking for your help in raising $20k to cover @ubookman operating expenses through spring 2025.

Learn more and support this "jewel of a journal" here: https://buff.ly/3XBZT1O

Load More

Shop through Regnery
Support the Kirk Center
& University Bookman