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.”

Enchanting Criticism: Dana Gioia as Literary Critic 

“Gioia’s latest book is a testament to the persistence of authentic criticism in an age suspicious of and even hostile to literary values.”

The Machine or the Garden?

“What Kingsnorth brilliantly exposes in Against the Machine is how the progressive vision of scientific, industrial, and technological progress is actually destroying the wisdom of the past in its merciless pursuit of perfection. Kingsnorth reminds us of the great taboo of modernity: ‘There is no such thing as a perfect society, and anyone who tries to build one will either go mad or become a tyrant.’”

What Plato Meant

“…Princeton University philosopher and political theorist Melissa Lane explores Plato’s notion of rule and governorship, attempting to refresh the humanistic, liberal reading of Plato’s political theory.”

JP O’Malley Interviews Author Maurice Samuels

JP O’Malley Interviews Author Maurice Samuels

“‘Dreyfus’s Jewishness played a major role’ in convincing many within the army hierarchy to believe he was a traitor and a spy, Samuels stresses… This, in essence, is the main thesis put forward in [the book]. ‘Clearly, you cannot write about this case without mentioning the fact that Dreyfus was Jewish, or bringing up the role of antisemitism,’ the historian points out.”

The Left Wing Patriot

The Left Wing Patriot

“A man of the left and an American patriot, [Peretz] is a rare bird today—and, therefore, possibly even a controversial one, not to mention an iconoclastic one.” 

Will You Also Go Away?

Will You Also Go Away?

“The suggestions that these True Confessions pose for renewal are aligned, whether they come from bishops or laypeople: we must recover the view that the Church is not an institution but a community founded on encountering Jesus Christ and living radically for him.”

Sailing East

Sailing East

“As we push deeper into the third decade of the twenty-first century, the sense of boredom and anxiety of the early twenty-first century only seems to increase. What is needed is a renewed sense of adventure, confidence, and patriotism—the same sense of adventure, confidence, and patriotism that propelled the East India Company to create the wealth and wonder of the modern world.”

The Republic and the American Right

The Republic and the American Right

“…Kevin Slack traces our continuing national horror back to its roots, America’s roots, in his scathing new book… Slack dedicates his screed to patriotic Americans ‘disgusted by our rotting plutocracy…'”

Evil and Good in Cormac McCarthy

Evil and Good in Cormac McCarthy

“Vereen M. Bell’s primary contention is that McCarthy presents us with a dead end—confronting us, in a kind of stoical existentialism, with the universality of death and non-being.”

TIME Marches On… Past 100 

TIME Marches On… Past 100 

“As TIME ‘goes on,’ therefore, and we commemorate its achievements, the career  of Henry Robinson Luce, the ‘Man of TIME’s Century,’ deserves recognition.”

The Missing Virtue

The Missing Virtue

“In [the book], the virtue of humility is presented as the antithesis of, and thus an antidote to, the narcissism that can adversely affect interpersonal dynamics…”

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.

"Don Quixote makes life the protagonist. The affirmation of life is truly Don Quixote’s quest. The venerable knight-errant seeks more than life from his life." — Pedro Blas Gonzalez.

Melissa Lane is one of many left-liberal thinkers seeking a middle ground between “canceling” great thinkers and those in the New Right who seek to co-opt them for their postliberal vision. - Jesse Russell

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