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.

William F. Buckley Jr.: Literary Figure 

“…the American public intellectual might best be appreciated as a literary figure. Producing about 350,000 words for publication yearly at the peak of his career, Buckley was never at a loss for what to say or how to say it.”

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.”

Natural Law and the Need for Moral Clarity

“Christians need clarity on the way their faith shapes their political activity. This ambiguous book fails to provide that clarity.”

Moral Realism Over and Against Contingent Pluralism 

“The challenge for… all natural law theorists is the proper ordering and integration of the contingencies of a given culture and the universality of the primary precepts of natural law.”

History on Improper Principles

“The condescending attitude—even animus—behind this book is, in fact, among the reasons Trump came to power in the first place. Voters, clearly sick of being sneered at by elites like Lichtman and his colleagues in the established commentariat, have turned to populism as an outlet for their frustrations.”

Examining our Techological Assumptions

An interview with Christine RosenThe University Bookman is pleased to present this interview with Christine Rosen, one of the most prominent writers on issues such as history of genetics, bioethics, the fertility industry, and the social impact of technology. Ms....

Permanent Things Newsletter

We are pleased to announce a new number of Permanent Things, the newsletter of the Russell Kirk Center, now edited by Ben Lockerd and featuring a report on the recent T. S. Eliot conference and a summary of the year for the Center. You may download it at this link...

Carney Interview

The Bookman features a new web-only interview with writer and political reporter Timothy P. Carney, author of The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money.

Behind the Big Ripoff

An interview with Timothy P. CarneyAs part of our continuing series of interviews (see our interviews with Gene Healy, James Howard Kunstler, and Peter Stanlis), we are pleased to present this interview with writer and political reporter Timothy P. Carney. Tim is one...

American Regionalism in the Fall Bookman

We are very pleased to present the new Fall 2008 issue of The University Bookman, a Special Issue on Regional America edited by Bill Kauffman. Full contents are now available online, including items on Brooklyn, Indiana, Kansas, Vermont, Washington, and more.

Books in Little

Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin, by Nicholas Ostler (Walker & Company, 382 pp., 2007) Writing in the seventh century, St. Isidore of Seville observed that “peoples have arisen from languages, not languages from peoples.” The history of the Latin language, as...

Donald Davidson and the South’s Conservatism

From The Politics of Prudence Leviathan is a Hebrew word signifying “that which gathers itself in folds.” In the Old Testament, Leviathan is the great sea-beast: “Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook?” In the 17th century, Thomas Hobbes—whom T.S. Eliot calls...

On the Fixing of Our Gaze

On the Fixing of Our Gaze

On Essays and LettersWhen college students go to Europe, as so many do, I tell them to be sure to send me a card from this place or that, places they visit, usually randomly. Moreover, I tell them before they depart that, on coming to Ostia Antica, the port of Rome,...

Show Me a Statesman

Jim Reed, Senatorial Immortal: A Biography By Lee Meriwether. Kessinger Publishing (Whitefish, Montana) 296 pp., $28.95 paper, 2007 Sen. James Alexander Reed of Missouri was one of the titans of the isolationist, individualist Old Right—though, like others of that...

The Book Gallery

A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.

Shop through Regnery
Support the Kirk Center
& University Bookman