The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Watch James Panero of the New Criterion discuss “The Urbanity of Russell Kirk” at the 2025 Gerald Russello Memorial Lecture.

The Urbanity of Russell Kirk

“The urban fabric must also be mended and darned through continuous upkeep. The city is not yours to experiment. From Russell to Russello, our ancestral spirits cast their shadows whether or not we choose to observe the city of god in the cities of men.”

Marxism and the Rising Generation

“Gonzalez and Gorka have performed an important service in bringing together a wide range of fact and theory and in establishing a coherent line stretching directly from Marx through many important figures to the present day.”

Cracking the Code to Civilization

“In a world flooded with online influencers, ‘red pill’ rhetoric, and algorithmic posturing, Newell offers something older, wiser, and far superior: a code of manliness rooted in the Western tradition of virtue, character, and service. His message is that true manliness is not a pose or performance; it is the integration of moral and intellectual excellence, what he calls ‘the manly heart.’”

France and the Problem of Abstraction

“…French people’s love for ideas, indeed for ideology, often puts them at odds with the pragmatic requisites of a mature democracy and with reality itself. France is, as she very aptly puts it, ‘a country of dreamers who fall into melancholy when reality catches up with them.’ But far from being merely a psychological explanation for French unhappiness, this idealism is the key to a political understanding of our complicated relationship with the very principle of democracy.”

Peter Stanlis, RIP

Peter Stanlis was a great friend to the Bookman and author of the Burke revival. May he rest in peace.

Duggan book

We congratulate Joseph Duggan on the release of his e-book Give Paz a Chance and the impending publication of The Zuckerberg Galaxy: A Primer for Negotiating the Media Maelstrom, portions of which first appeared in the University Bookman.

What’s the Supreme Court Supposed to Do?

The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 1789–2008 by Lucas A Powe, Jr. Harvard University Press (Cambridge and London), 432 pages, paper $19.95, 2011. Sometime in 2012 the United States Supreme Court will issue its most important opinion in the twenty-first century...

More on Otto von Habsburg

Bookman associate editor David Bonagura has written a piece for The Catholic Thing, “Otto von Habsburg: Monarch, Freedom Fighter, Catholic,” as the late Archduke was laid to rest with his ancestors.

Pressing On

This summer saw the passing of Otto von Habsburg, a living embodiment—perhaps the last such—of the European order swept away by the Great War. We have included a fitting tribute to the Archduke—whose son, Karl, studied with Russell Kirk as a Wilbur Fellow—by Denis...

Otto von Habsburg (20 November 1912–4 July 2011)

Otto von Habsburg (20 November 1912–4 July 2011)

“Because we have the truth,” replied Otto von Habsburg when I asked him why he was convinced that Europe would return to the Christian faith. In light of the ongoing political secularization and the influx of non-Christian immigration in Europe, I, a Catholic and...

Individual and Community—and God

The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion, and Culture by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2009.This collection of essays by Chicago Archbishop Francis Cardinal George brings the resources of the Catholic...

Habit and Being in Burke

Peter Stanlis is well known to students of eighteenth-century history and literature as the author of Edmund Burke and the Natural Law (1958) and, indeed, this book and his many essays and articles have brought him recognition as one of the country’s leading...

Ancient Virtues in a Postmodern World

Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues in the Twenty-First Century by Howard Gardner. Basic Books, 2011, 244 pp., $26. As author of Multiple Intelligences, Harvard professor Howard Gardner stands as perhaps the most celebrated, and misapplied,...

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.

"Delsol’s analysis stands out for the breadth of its perspective. Her essay covers topics as varied as corporatism, the French love for status and strikes, immigration, religion and secularism, populism and the role of intellectuals, Jacobinism, and the EU..."

Cracking the Code to Civilization
@CliffordBates12 on "The Code of Man: Love, Courage, Pride, Family, Country" (2nd Edition) by @waller_newell

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