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.”

Revisiting Walter Lippmann

“Lippmann sought to be—and was—what might be described today as an influencer. As such, he never sought to wield power, but he long desired to have the ears and eyes of the powerful. Arnold-Forster is certainly not unaware of that. But it is never his central message. If there is such a message in these pages, and there is, it is his effort to make the reader aware that Walter Lippmann, believer in and defender of the efficacy of progressive government, was also Walter Lippmann, believer in and defender of both the reality and importance of empire in general and of the American empire in particular.”

Family Homes and Drive-in Churches

“After the optimism of the suburban boom, it all went bust. Mass attendance fell by 70 percent. Women’s religious life died out. Parochial education was crippled… The green grass of suburbia was starved into a desiccated, brown waste.”

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.”

Historical Marker Project

Thank you! In preparation for the upcoming centennial of the birth of Russell Kirk, friends have successfully funded a historical marker for his birthplace of Plymouth, Michigan. We are grateful to all who participated. Here is a video of Annette Kirk and Andrea Kirk...

Burning River: Glimpses from the Banks of the Cuyahoga

Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology, 2nd Edition, edited by Richie Piiparinen and Anne Trubek. Belt Publishing, 2014. Paper, 272 pages, $20. The Akron Anthology, edited by Jason Segedy. Belt Publishing, 2016. Paper, 211 pages, $20. When I first emigrated from...

Treasures in the Garden

The Walled Garden: Poems by Andrew Thornton-Norris. CreateSpace, 2011, 2015. Paper, 74 pages, $7. Few things have frustrated supporters of traditionalist or conservative aesthetics than the state of contemporary poetry. It seems that not a year goes by with at least...

Books in Little: Philosophy for Life

On Life and Death by Cicero. Translated by John Davie. Oxford University Press, 2017. Paper, 261 pages, $17.The fresh hardcovers of such works as On Old Age on bookstore shelves indicate that Cicero is in vogue nowadays. Perhaps a statesman and philosopher who...

Recovering Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Dassow Walls. University of Chicago Press, 2017. Hardcover, 640 pages, $35. Reviewed by John Byron Kuhner Of all the great American writers, I think I pity Henry David Thoreau the most. Long paired by curriculum writers...

A Great Story, Almost

Beren and Lúthien by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. Hardcover, 288 pages, $30. Reviewed by Ben Reinhard Beren and Lúthien stands out among the posthumous Tolkien publications of the last decade or so. Unlike The...

The Book Doesn’t Change, But the Reader Does

A conversation with Daniel MoranDaniel Moran is the author of Creating Flannery O’Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers. He teaches history at Monmouth University and writing at Rutgers University. Creating Flannery O’Connor was published in 2016 by the...

Books in Little: A Literate Lawyer

Of Bees and Boys: Lines from a Southern Lawyer by Allen Mendenhall. Red Dirt Press, 2017. Paperback, 76 pages, $12.95.“Are Lawyers Illiterate?” asks Allen Mendenhall in the title of one of the essays making up this collection of material previously published in...

A Righteous Republic?

A conversation with Philip GorskiWe are very pleased to welcome Philip Gorski to discuss his new book American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present (Princeton UP, 2017). Gorski is Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at Yale...

The Book Gallery

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

How to Love What is Permanent
Sarah Reardon on "Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul From Mediocrity" by Joshua Gibbs.
@CirceInstitute

Personalism in the Age of AI Grant R. Martsolf on "Personalism for the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of David Walsh" Edited by Thomas W. Holman and Richard Avramenko.
@RLPublisher

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