The University Bookman
Reviewing Books that Build Culture
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.”
Buckley at 100: Revisiting the Speeches of William F. Buckley Jr.
“…I asked William F. Buckley Jr. which of his books was the favorite… Since I did not have a game plan other than to say ‘hello,’ speaking with him was an unexpected opportunity to pop the question. ‘It has to be the book of my speeches,’ he answered. ‘It covers fifty years of my life. No other of my books does that.’”
Something Wicked This Way Comes
“Like the Early Modern period, our own age is a time of charlatanry and real evil…”
The Real Way to Build Back Better
“If twenty-first-century America, as divided and rancorous as she has been in generations, is to find authentic peace and prosperity, her citizens must look inside their hearts rather than out at the government for a path to renewal. Self-reform is the only way to build society back better, and the Christian religion has long served as its greatest catalyst… Thomas Griffin offers us a model for reform: the way of Saint Francis of Assisi, who was so suffused with love for Jesus Christ that he was able to renew his world.”
The Original Struggle Between Globalism and America First
“…what could be more timely than an account of the first national ‘America First’ campaign? And who should provide this accounting but historian H. W. Brands whose long string of solid books brands him as one of our most important and most prolific chroniclers?”
Proverbs, Virtues, and Callings
“This is at the heart of Melanchthon’s teaching on virtue in his commentary on Proverbs. We must ‘not undertake anything without our vocation constraining us,’ but within these vocations we must find the specific virtues that will adorn them and make our efforts useful.”
Cabrini: The Humble Saint Behind the Film
“Cabrini, the nun who would become a saint, dedicated her life to helping good people in practical ways… Her letters, carefully collected… showed the love that motivated her kindness.”
The Fessio Phenomenon
“I wish I could say that the recent history of Catholic higher education in America made sense, but, thanks to Father Buckley, it makes more sense to me than it used to.”
Transmitting Western Civilization Through Education
“…this book is a meditation on the idea of civilization and the role of education in transmitting a civilized life to future generations.”
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.
This is good. I’d like to see a follow up piece on Wood’s The American Revolution and on Power & Liberty. Also, maybe some comment on the essay in The Idea of America that walks back the claim in Creation that 1789 marked the end of classical
Politics (the button interests and
“Anton’s book, and his entire worldview, stand as direct challenges to elite preferences and institutions: Okay, boomer, what next?”
Quite the review of Michael Anton's book from Brad Watson in @KirkCenter's @ubookman. https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/a-man-for-all-seasons/
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