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.”

Words from the Hearth

“Each poem maps a path on the journey by sharing the personal and religious experiences of a young woman falling in love, getting married, and then expecting and welcoming children. As a reader who tends to prefer prose to poetry, I appreciate the narrative arc as well as the opportunity to reminisce, through Reardon’s work, on my own similar experiences. Reardon’s writing is intensely religious, elevating the seemingly mundane aspects of home life to a spiritual level. Because it draws such powerful connections, it invites readers to ponder how even the simplest details of their lives can lead to the divine.”

A Knight of the American West

“His new book is an exciting chivalric adventure and romance, while also being a contemporary American novel set in the Southwest USA. Exceptionally well written, its straightforward crafting is an encouragement to the reader who eagerly returns to its pages.”

Coming to Terms with Sherman

“…Glenn Arbery has contemporary America down cold, the more so since the cultural variations between North and South are far from being as marked as they were even fifty years ago.”

Correcting the Historical Record on Slavery

Correcting the Historical Record on Slavery

“Slavery, in fact, was everywhere for the vast majority of human history, and it still survives in places today. While Western civilization deserves credit for helping end it, the Catholic Church stands alone in both its early recognition and its consistent conviction that slavery is evil.”

History of the American Revolution Well Told

History of the American Revolution Well Told

“This new edition of a book on one of the most important subjects in American diplomatic history by one of the leading practitioners in the field should remind readers how important—and downright fascinating—such works can be.”

Virtue in the Age of Neo-Machiavellianism

Virtue in the Age of Neo-Machiavellianism

“For Hankins the notion of a new nobility based upon merit—not class or blood, on one hand, nor ‘equity,’ on the other—is one of Patrizi’s most important messages for America today. Hankins, throughout the book, presents the optimistic case that such a vision of a virtuous, meritocratic Republic is the way forward for America.”

Crafting a New Evangelical Imagination

Crafting a New Evangelical Imagination

“The result of a Christian subculture so deeply infused with Victorian era sentimentalism is that evangelicalism became less an intellectual theological system and more ‘a religion of the heart.'”

Rising with the Saints

Rising with the Saints

“…the Church will come alive again when we become committed to being radical in the ordinary things: prayer, devotion, sacrifice, charity, and the study of the truth.”

Thinking as a Human Being

Thinking as a Human Being

“…the world we are involved in is cognitively sorted by us according to the purposes and concerns of our form of life, which is in turn… shaped by the structures, traditions and worldviews in which we bodily participate. This poses a major challenge for AI…”

JP O’Malley Interviews Author Ian Buruma

JP O’Malley Interviews Author Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma published The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II early last year. The University Bookman contributor JP O’Malley caught up with Mr. Buruma to discuss his latest book.

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.

@EvieSolheim By the way, the @KirkCenter takes literature, ethics, character formation, & cultural renewal seriously

Encourage you to participate in our @ubookman academic journal & the fellowship of our literary & academic community, enshrining what Dr. Kirk calls “the Moral Imagination”

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