The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

What the American Revolution Secured: Order, Justice, and Freedom

Throughout the semiquincentennial year celebrating America’s independence, The University Bookman will invite a range of writers and speakers to contribute to a series drawing upon Russell Kirk’s work on the American Revolution and the constitutional order it secured.

Britain at the Turning Point

“A major theme that runs through Allport’s study is the shifting equilibrium of power relations between the United States and Britain. The war demonstrated that, as British power and resources dwindled, Britain became dependent on material and financial supplies from the United States.”

Shakespeare Forever

“…in his rich and thorough exploration of not only Shakespeare’s thoughts but also the course of Western thinking, David Womersley demonstrates that ideas do matter, and that Shakespeare is bigger than the harsh but ultimately timid emotions of our age.”

The Innocence of Imagination

“…the innocence that Blake’s poetry sings of is the awe, wonder, and imagination of a child who can conceive of boundless relationships with everything from a flower or butterfly to sister, brother, mother, and father. ‘Growing up,’ Vernon writes in addressing Blake’s poetic philosophy of innocence and imagination, ‘need not mean losing innocence and wonder.’ In fact, a mature innocence that can blend realism with imaginative creativity is key to a good and joyful life.”

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...

Destroying an ‘Evil Empire’

A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century by Paul Kengor. ISI Books, 2017. Hardcover, 638 pages, $23.66 The twentieth century was a bloody century characterized by upheaval, loss of lives, and political...

Diana Trilling’s Search for a Hero

The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling by Natalie Robins. Columbia University Press, 2017. Hardcover, 424 pages, $33.“In the actual conduct of our lives Lionel and I silently accepted the premise that my first responsibility was to my home and family.” So...

Virtue: Can It Be Taught?

by Russell Kirk Are there men and women in America today of virtue sufficient to withstand and repel the forces of disorder? Or have we, as a people, grown too fond of creature-comforts and a fancied security to venture our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor in...

The Illusion of Human Rights

“There exists something even more important than civil liberties: the survival of legitimate governments.”Human rights, some folk tell us, are not fully realized in El Salvador. Other people have discovered, somewhat tardily, that human rights are not altogether...

Prospects for American Education

An address discussing the findings of the Report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. “There will come about a marked decline of prosperity and of national strength—with no one knowing why, or at least no one daring to explain why.”For more than...

The Surly Sullen Bell

By Russell A. Kirk And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? Isaiah VIII:19 Having stared at the river for half an...

The Book Gallery

A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition. Click on the icon in the upper right corner of the video to see more episodes in this series or check out our YouTube page.

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