The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Join friends of the Bookman in New York City on December 8, 2025 for the Gerald Russello Memorial Lecture.

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.”

How to Love What is Permanent

“Throughout the book, Gibbs pleads with his readers that we not only think of the soul in terms of salvation but also in terms of health. Good taste won’t save one’s soul. But it will nourish the soul and incline the soul towards virtue much more than the bad taste we will acquire from mediocre things.”

Personalism in the Age of AI

“Personalism is a philosophical movement that places the human person at the center of inquiry, affirming the inherent dignity, value, and uniqueness of each individual. While it spans both religious and secular traditions, its common thread is a commitment to defending the irreducible reality of the person in an age increasingly shaped by systems, technologies, and abstractions.”

Christopher Dawson and Pluralism

“In particular, I want to examine three aspects of Dawson’s thought: his conclusion that cultures, especially Western culture, historically have been pluralist; his contention that a pluralism of cultures preserves a sphere of freedom from dominant modern ideologies that would eliminate that freedom; and finally, Dawson’s conviction that a pluralist world represents a new opportunity for evangelization.”

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,...

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.

How to Love What is Permanent
Sarah Reardon on "Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul From Mediocrity" by Joshua Gibbs.
@CirceInstitute

Personalism in the Age of AI Grant R. Martsolf on "Personalism for the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of David Walsh" Edited by Thomas W. Holman and Richard Avramenko.
@RLPublisher

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