The University Bookman
Reviewing Books that Build Culture
Watch James Panero of the New Criterion discuss “The Urbanity of Russell Kirk” at the 2025 Gerald Russello Memorial Lecture.
Aging White Male Future Shock: The Contemporary Relevance of a Sociological Classic
“’Future Shock?’ I use that phrase to characterize what I have observed as the predicament—or (as they might view it) the ‘plight’—of aging white males who are buffeted by a host of new developments, ranging from the #MeToo and Black Lives Matters movements to revolutionary technologies of the digital world, that have confused or even paralyzed them.”
The Intrinsic Argument for Free Speech
“Core to Turley’s argument is that free speech is justified in the natural law—by which he means modern natural law. Free speech must attach to any coherent understanding of individual rights. In this, Turley is solidly in the liberal tradition. But his argument goes further, drawing from a more nuanced understanding of the person than we often regrettably find in liberal philosophy.”
Sister Mariella Gable: Pioneer and Prophet
“Nelson’s point, then, is that Catholic writers are issued no exemptions for their piety… but must instead be held to the highest standards of quality, craftsmanship, and excellence.”
The Visionary Stigmatists and the Hope of Mercy
“…Kengor proceeds in his history of key stigmatists through Christian history, looking at the medieval stigmatists of renown including Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine of Sienna, to more modern stigmatists of the past century including Saint Padre Pio and Saint Faustina.”
Challenging the Contraceptive Mind
“…philosophy underlies her work and makes itself evident throughout. Though she applies economic terms to her findings about childbearing—with language of costs and benefits—and draws conclusions about economics and policy, Pakaluk is fundamentally making, alongside her subjects, a philosophical argument about the value of human life. Together with the women of her sample, Pakaluk maintains that children are blessings worth living and dying for, and that having one more child is always a blessing.”
Motherhood in an Age of Childlessness
“Pakaluk posits that her interviews revealed a startling thesis: a supernatural outlook, whereby self-sacrifice is assessed as gain, is perhaps the only way nowadays that most college-educated women are ever going to regard the benefits of large families as greater than the costs. “
The Conservative Resurgence
“Milikh begins his introductory essay by straightforwardly asserting that the goal of the book ‘is to correct the trajectory of the Right after several generations of political losses, moral delusions, and intellectual errors.'”
Religious Illiberalism and the American Order
“Copulsky’s work can only be described as the definitive history of religious illiberalism to the American order.”
Michel Houellebecq’s Annihilation: Dystopia Unbound in Late Postmodernism
“…Houellebecq offers a caveat against hopelessness. Beginning in the second half of the novel, after a vast portion of the plot mechanism has become manifest, Houellebecq introduces readers to the revamped possibilities for human life that love offers.”
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.
"Don Quixote makes life the protagonist. The affirmation of life is truly Don Quixote’s quest. The venerable knight-errant seeks more than life from his life." — Pedro Blas Gonzalez.
Melissa Lane is one of many left-liberal thinkers seeking a middle ground between “canceling” great thinkers and those in the New Right who seek to co-opt them for their postliberal vision. - Jesse Russell
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