The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

John Adams: Russell Kirk’s Founding Federalist

“…[Kirk] located the mainstream of the American Founding not with the Jeffersonian Republicans, but with their rivals in the Federalist party. Kirk admired them not only as practical statesmen, but also as anti-revolutionary thinkers in their own right. As he put it, the Constitution they supported was both ‘the most successful conservative device in the history of the world’ and a ‘great monument’ to the Federalists.”

What the American Revolution Secured: Order, Justice, and Freedom

Throughout the semiquincentennial year celebrating America’s independence, The University Bookman will invite a range of writers and speakers to contribute to a series drawing upon Russell Kirk’s work on the American Revolution and the constitutional order it secured.

“To Think Faith” as Educators

“…faith and pedagogy should be in harmony. Smith’s guide is not a theory of faith and teaching or how to sprinkle faith within teaching. ‘It offers repeated practice at noticing and thinking through ways in which faith and the process of teaching might connect in everyday practice,’ in the mundane moments of elementary, secondary, or higher education classrooms.”

Every Educational Bureaucracy is Unhappy in Its Own Way

“In the end, Nikias’s story illustrates a recurring truth about bureaucracies: reformers often find themselves defeated not by external enemies but by the accumulated habits, incentives, and procedures of the organizations they serve.”

The Problems of American Higher Education

“In the spirit of Kirk, the conservative reformer must remember the imperfectability of human nature, a moral truth that the modern academy has forgotten.”

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…”

Remaking Cold War Diplomacy

Remaking Cold War Diplomacy

“[Eames’s] latest book… takes a transnational approach to the nuclear 1980s by examining the strategic coordination of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher during the waning days of the Cold War.”

The Achievement of the Irish Poets

The Achievement of the Irish Poets

“…for Devlin, as for MacGreevy and Coffey, the purpose of art, including that of literary expression, was to call forth wonder, beauty, goodness, and truth, which required drawing from the rich stores of both philosophy and faith.”

The Last European

The Last European

“[The book] is a fascinating portrait of the collapse of the glorious cultural world of the first half of the 20th century, one that has much relevance to what is happening to the culture of the West today.”

A “Sputnik Moment” for Civics

A “Sputnik Moment” for Civics

“The key to effective civics is for teachers to engage students in ‘conversations based on primary sources.’ Immersion in such conversations, the authors contend, ‘makes us feel part of the story, making it ours too.'”

The Dublin Fog: In the Footsteps of the Irish Saints

The Dublin Fog: In the Footsteps of the Irish Saints

“Connie Marshner and Mike Aquilina have both published books this year that give us a window into this long-lost world of ancient Irish Christianity. Each is a discernment project, straining to see through a glass, darkly, how this middle eastern religion came to Ireland, whence it spread even farther abroad.”

Love That Tells the Truth

Love That Tells the Truth

“…the book is studded with several truths that together give a thorough—and loving—response to the lies of modern secular culture.”

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.

Kirk saw poetry, fiction, tradition, and restraint as essential to understanding America and preserving its character. In his review of "On America," @cjscalia explores Kirk’s vision of the founding, statesmanship, literature, and the enduring ideas that have shaped the republic.

The Audacious Russell Kirk
Bruce P. Frohnen reviews "On America: How to Understand the Legacy of 1776" by Russell Kirk. Edited by Michael Lucchese.

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