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.

Gordon Wood and the Verisimilitudes of Consensus History

“…Wood’s bold and consistent emphasis was on the revolutionary nature not just of the American Revolution but of America itself… The only sense of nationhood and national purpose, in Wood’s rendering, came from the Revolution…”

Forming the American Imagination

“Culture-making and imagination formation—in short, the education of the affections—though movies, music, and literature have been left almost entirely to those who view the inherited Western and American tradition with suspicion, if not outright contempt.”

A Man for All Seasons

“His latest book is a collection of essays that reflect the breadth of his interests and the power of his pen. [It] contains delightful ruminations on matters as diverse as his home state of California, his teachers and heroes, domestic culture and politics, foreign affairs, and the miscellaneous diversions that have occupied his lively mind.”

Toward an American Iliad

Toward an American Iliad

“As we approach our country’s 250th… Courage is needed, as is fidelity to the bond of ordered liberty that once spurred our forefathers to take up arms to secure the peace and safety we now enjoy.”

A Liberal Who Met the Cancel Mob

A Liberal Who Met the Cancel Mob

“Biggar sees this aversion to reason and evidence (at least when they interfere with a politically useful narrative) to contain ‘the springs of tyranny,’ since once those are abandoned, the only means left to resolve disagreements is power. Thus, ‘postcolonialists and other “progressive” zealots assume an aggressive, intimidating, repressive, tyrannical posture.’”

The Midwestern Gothic Stories of Eric Cyr

The Midwestern Gothic Stories of Eric Cyr

“It is an unabashedly Midwestern endeavor in every way—a collection of short stories set entirely in the Midwest, written by a Midwestern author, and published by a proudly Midwestern independent publisher that has been producing top-quality books since its inception in 2013. “

Joseph Story and the Politics of the Early Republic

Joseph Story and the Politics of the Early Republic

“the central theme of Clarke’s study is the extent to which the case for the federal common law rests on a thoroughly nationalist understanding of the American founding and union. At a basic level, a common law requires a common people. But even more importantly, Story needed a narrative of consolidated American nationhood to fill the yawning gap in his theory—that there was never any direct, national adoption of the common law.”

Listening to the Law, and Now Speaking It

Listening to the Law, and Now Speaking It

“Justice Barrett thus roots an originalist mode of judging in history and tradition. Judging rightly is an inherently conservative endeavor: the judiciary’s very claim to review the work of the political branches draws each political act back to past writing, either in the Constitution or the United States Code. Keeping our politics within the scope of ordered liberty—and most importantly a written text—makes the judiciary the branch that preserves and tempers us in the face of the revolutionary instinct to throw off the so-called ‘dead hand of the past.’” 

One Man’s Journey to Faith

One Man’s Journey to Faith

“Regardless of one’s beliefs, Charles Murray’s [book] must be acknowledged as a notable work. It is a heartfelt account of one man’s (actually, one couple’s) acceptance of religious faith and of Christianity in particular, and while not a work of scholarship, it is informed by extensive reading and decades of thought. Like the work of C.S. Lewis, which inspired Murray’s turn toward Christianity, it is written in an admirably direct and accessible style.”

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.

Finding Faith in Fiction
Christine Norvell on "Wondrous Reading: Encountering the Catholic Faith in Children’s Literature" by @LuElla_DAmico

A Man for All Seasons
@BradleyCSWatson (@HillsdaleInDC) on "Dispatches from the Late Republic: The Culture, Politics, and Prophets of American Greatness, Decline, and Rebirth" by Michael Anton. @EncounterBooks

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