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.”

Books in Little

A Second Look at First Things: A Case for Conservative Politics. Edited by Francis J. Beckwith, Robert P. George, and Susan McWilliams. St. Augustine’s Press, 2013. Paperback, 400 pages. Hadley P. Arkes must indeed feel vindicated by this work. An intelligent...

The Real Source of Modern Judicial Review

The Real Source of Modern Judicial Review

Dred Scott v. SandfordModern judicial review has a curious history. Its proponents seek to find its origins in the 1803 case of Marbury vs. Madison. The argument is that Chief Justice John Marshall “cleverly” created judicial review as an American institution. As the...

The Founders’ Founder

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. A Critical Edition with Modern Spelling by Richard Hooker, edited by Arthur Stephen McGrade. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Three volumes. Hardcover, 1100 pages, $420. If asked “Which thinker exerted the greatest influence...

On Incomprehensibles

The literary form of Pascal’s Pensées is something of a puzzle. Is it a series of jottings, aphorisms, short essays, even conversational letters, or all of the above? Whatever it is, it is a remarkable work bordering on the inexhaustible. Not unlike Boswell’s Life of...

Religious Liberty and the Tragic Approach to Legal Theory

The Tragedy of Religious Freedom by Marc O. DeGirolami. Harvard University Press, 2013. Hardcover, 320 pages, $45. This is a brilliant and profoundly conservative book. Its argument, though not simple, is clearly stated for the attentive reader. One likely...

Spring Permanent Things

The Spring 2014 number of our Permanent Things newsletter is up, featuring updates on recent events commemorating Russell Kirk and the strong reception in Brazil of the publication of The Politics of Prudence. You can download a copy of the PDF from this link.

Natural Law and the Challenge of Liberal Secularism

Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism by Robert P. George. Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2013. Hardcover, 384 pages, $30.“Man is known to exist in no part of the world, without certain rules for the regulation of his intercourse...

Strong Essays on Burke

Edmund Burke, the Enlightenment and the Modern World, edited by Peter J. Stanlis. Detroit: University of Detroit Press, 1967. 129 pp. Putting a title on a collection of disparate papers is always a problem. Considering the difficulty, the editor of this volume has...

Rise of the Poster Children

An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America by Joseph Bottum. Image, 2014. Hardcover, 296 pp. $25.What is the most consequential political change to have occurred in the United States in the past 150 years? Most observers might nominate various...

The Book Gallery

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

@ubookman The mission of @ubookman is to identify and discuss those books that diagnose the modern age through the prism of the Permanent Things and so to support cultural renewal. Thanks for joining Bookman writers and readers to do our part to redeem the time. https://buff.ly/6uf2yRz

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