The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

The Wolfe Who Cried Kirk

In the pages of the once-respectable New Republic, Alan Wolfe has written a scurrilous attack on Russell Kirk in the guise of a review of the recently published collection entitled The Essential Russell Kirk. The review is noteworthy not for its ugliness or completely...

Tiber, Thames, Potomac

That the First Amendment establishes a “separation” between church and state throughout all levels of government has long been a stubborn myth of American life, shared by both nativists and, at least since the early part of the last century, most liberals. Philip...

Awakening the Moral Imagination

Fall 1999 If the events of the past year have demonstrated anything it is the moral and intellectual impoverishment of the American people. From Monica to Littleton the tragic consequences of this fact have been played out on a dizzying scale. Sadly, the road back...

The Waters of Ius and Freedom

“[Hawley] attempts to convince us that Cicero is an invaluable resource for an introduction to Western philosophy. He is the true republican symbol that links the common liberty of popular sovereignty to the private liberty of individuals.”

Gateway to the Dissident Right

“…MacIntyre explains how the COVID lockdowns and 2020 riots made America unrecognizable to him, prompting study into thinkers of more hard-nosed questions of power relationships. A conventional understanding of America’s Constitution as protecting against arbitrary government power did not explain what was really happening, hence a question: ‘what if the story our leaders have repeated endlessly about liberal democracy and popular sovereignty has actual served to expand the power of the state to unprecedented levels, all while assuring the ruled that they live in an era of freedom unlike any that’s ever been experienced?’ From this paradox, MacIntyre advances his understanding of the ‘total state.’” 

Susan Cooper on the Moral Imagination in Fantasy Fiction

“From stories about brave warriors battling mighty dragons to epic sagas about magic rings and lyrical Arthurian tales set among mist-shrouded mountains, fantasy fiction has always connected with readers at the deepest level. Among the best writers of this genre is Susan Cooper, who writes beautifully poetic stories, like those of Tolkien and Lewis, that we will have with us for generations.”

A Very American Historian

A Very American Historian

“,,,the South had something to teach other Americans, especially those Americans of the twentieth century who had an ‘oversized faith in American progress, American prosperity, and American invincibility.’ At least that was the idea of this ‘idea man’ as he dwelt on both the ‘irony’ and the ‘burden’ of southern history.”

Why We Need Beauty

Why We Need Beauty

“This is an erudite and beautifully written book about a neglected thinker who deserves more attention in this age of ugliness and vulgarity.”

Where Is Home?

Where Is Home?

“…’Who will keep our stories alive, no matter where we go?’ Perhaps that is a question even more poignant than ‘Where is home?’ especially for those who are either dispossessed of a homeland or simply feel rootless in a thousand small ways as they struggle to navigate this dizzyingly complex world.”

Russell Kirk vs. Fusionism: A Conflict in Name Only?

Russell Kirk vs. Fusionism: A Conflict in Name Only?

“Kirk called ideology the ‘negation of prudence’ and the ‘foe of imagination.’ Both prudence and imagination are key ideas in Kirk’s political thought. For him, prudence is the preeminent political virtue, and all good politics is inspired by the moral imagination.”

Nihilism as Public Policy

Nihilism as Public Policy

“The difference between nihilism as a private response to life’s contingencies and its sinister manifestation as public policy, Houellebecq aptly points out, is that the latter demands that nihilism become institutionalized.”

The Book Gallery

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

A (Gerald) Russello Classic: The Age of Addiction
The late editor of @ubookman reviews "How Technology and Marketing Revolutionized Desire" by Gary S. Cross and Robert N. Proctor. @UChicagoPress

Why is free speech an indispensable right?

On Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m., join @ubookman Editor @lsheahan and @JonathanTurley to discuss the history and philosophy of free speech.

Register: https://tinyurl.com/4k2ucwp9

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