The University Bookman
Reviewing Books that Build Culture
The Public Responsibilities of Known American Poets
Recently, Forbes magazine attempted to measure the effect of Ruth Lilly’s $185 million bequest to the Poetry Foundation. That foundation, which publishes Poetry magazine, claims that it reached 19 million new poetry readers last year. John Barr, its president, a poet...
The Great Historian of Culture
A Historian and His World: A Life of Christopher Dawson by Christina Scott. With a new introduction by Russell Kirk, and a postscript by Christopher Dawson: “Memories of a Victorian Childhood.” Transaction Books, New Brunswick, New Jersey, [1984] 1991.Christopher...
The Quality of Our Imaginations
A conversation with Gary L. Gregg.The University Bookman is pleased to present this interview with Gary L. Gregg, II, who holds the Mitch McConnell Chair in Leadership at the University of Louisville, where he directs the McConnell Center. He is the author or editor...
Rescuing the Past
The Iona Conspiracy by G. L. Gregg. Winged Lion Press, 2010, 432 pp., $18. The Iona Conspiracy, the sequel to Dr. Gary Gregg’s novel The Sporran, is a gripping tale which follows the adventures of thirteen-year-old Jacob Boyd. In the previous book, Jacob came to...
The Faith of Men of Letters
In this review from 1987, the late Dr. Panichas reviews Russell Kirk’s book on Eliot—he calls it Kirk’s greatest work—and discusses the cultural role of “the man of letters.”
Champion of Faith and Common Sense
Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life & Impact of G. K. Chesterton by Kevin Belmonte. Thomas Nelson, 2011, $16.99, 318 pages Many years ago, this reviewer attended a weekend stay at the home of a prominent historian and Roman Catholic gentleman, to assess his personal...
Lincoln and the Dignity of the Presidency
The Roman Republic was at the back of the minds of the framers of the American Constitution; it was their hope that the chief magistrate of these United States would conduct himself with “the high old Roman virtue,” becoming an exemplar of pietas, gravitas,...
Ortega y Gasset’s Metaphysical Cure for Invertebrate Cultures
The Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset. W. W. Norton, [1930] 1994, 192 pages. Reviewed by Pedro Blas González When the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955) published his seminal work The Revolt of the Masses (La Rebellion de las Masas) in...
A Guide to Voegelin’s Thought
Eric Voegelin’s Search for Order in History edited by Stephen A. McKnight. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978. 209 pp. [Expanded edition, 1987, 252 pp.] In the spring of 1953, Time magazine published a long review-essay entitled “Journalism and...
The Book Gallery
A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.