The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

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.”

Geopolitics and the Making of the Modern World

“Brands’s book should find a ready audience among those interested in developments in the international scene over the last century. It is particularly effective in dealing with the threat that China’s emerging power and influence pose to the West today…”

The Context for Human Dignity

“While the twentieth century was still sporadically marked by remnants of Christian influence and dominance, the twenty-first has seen the final divorce of the secular and sacred, and the consequences are evident. What Leo XIII warned of, the evils he battled, have been let loose, paradigmatically captured by Artificial Intelligence which poorly imitates and devalues that which makes us essentially human… We would do well then to read Hittinger’s book in reflecting on how to face these challenges.”

Between Greatness and Hubris

“At the core of [the book] is the notion that while America is an exceptional nation, we are not immune from the perils that beset past countries and empires.”

The Last European

by John P. Rossi | Jul 21, 2024

“[The book] is a fascinating portrait of the collapse of the glorious cultural world of the first half of the 20th century, one that has much relevance to what is happening to the culture of the West today.”

A “Sputnik Moment” for Civics

by Hans Zeiger | Jul 21, 2024

“The key to effective civics is for teachers to engage students in ‘conversations based on primary sources.’ Immersion in such conversations, the authors contend, ‘makes us feel part of the story, making it ours too.'”

Editors’ Summer Reading

by The Editors | Jul 14, 2024

Summer is well underway. So is our summer reading. Speaking of which—what are we reading?

The Dublin Fog: In the Footsteps of the Irish Saints

by Ryan Patrick Budd | Jul 14, 2024

“Connie Marshner and Mike Aquilina have both published books this year that give us a window into this long-lost world of ancient Irish Christianity. Each is a discernment project, straining to see through a glass, darkly, how this middle eastern religion came to Ireland, whence it spread even farther abroad.”

Love That Tells the Truth

by Sarah Reardon | Jul 14, 2024

“…the book is studded with several truths that together give a thorough—and loving—response to the lies of modern secular culture.”

Humanely Conservative

by Lee Trepanier | Jul 7, 2024

“For [the authors], the decline or renewal of the West depends upon whether a conservative humanism can be recovered, whether the wisdom of our ancestors will be rejuvenated and whether we are willing to look back into the past in order to move forward in the future.”