The University Bookman
Reviewing Books that Build Culture
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The Paradoxical Ideology
“Rousseau’s ideas have influenced both theorists and practitioners of democracy, such as Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, George W. Bush, John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, and Jacques Maritain. For Finley, the common thread in this group is belief in the ideology of democratism. For each of these figures, democracy is perceived as the ultimate end for society, akin to religious salvation, and only an elite-controlled oligarchy can represent society’s ‘general will.’ The irony is that this oligarchy employs undemocratic means in the name of democracy to achieve its objectives.”
Democratism and False Equivalence
“Finley argues that advocates of ‘democratism’ have always argued for democracy not as a regime of popular government but as a set of political norms of enlightened public sharing commitments to further liberation from traditional bonds.”
Churchill in His Element
“The River War was not just an adventure for Churchill; it was a foundation for his burgeoning thoughts on the strategy of war.”
Retaining Humanity in the Age of A.I.
“…a more important consideration is how schools can teach students to focus on the value of connecting with other human beings instead of disproportionately focusing on electronics.”
Roosevelt’s Revolution
“The New Deal which emerges from Beito’s narrative is nothing less than a revolution against the American constitutional order.”
Recovering the Idea of Statesmanship
“The originality of Burtka’s approach lies in his effort to restore an even more old-fashioned approach, that of the ‘mirror of princes,’ as the key to taking statesmanship seriously once again.”
Sowell’s Summary Argument
“Chipping away at elite consensus over the progressive agenda… requires a cultural turn…”
Vanquishing the Social Justice Warriors
“…the book is best for those who are relatively new to Sowell’s work, for it provides a taste of many themes that have guided his political and economic thought from the 1970s to today.”
A Gentleman Out of Moscow
“Maddocks is an able guide as she wanders through the adventures, disappointments, and adjustments that Rachmaninoff would experience from his escape in 1917 to his death in 1943.”
The Book Gallery
A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.
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