The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

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.

Who Are the Enemies of Academic Freedom?

“…the authors’ efforts to defend free speech and academic freedom ultimately fall flat. This is because, for all their handwringing about the red-state barbarians at the gates, Chemerinsky and Gillman cannot or will not see what their own argument and their own evidence of student, faculty, and administrator behavior show to even a mildly attentive reader: The greatest enemies of higher learning in America remain within the walls.”

Who’s the Furious One? 

“One also comes away from this book with the sense that her allegedly fit-to-be-tied subjects have had no legitimate reason to be concerned or troubled, much less furious, about anything at all in the American body politic. The reigning orthodoxy of liberal pluralism, however that has been packaged and repackaged, apparently had been—and deserves to continue to be—the prevailing story of life in America before, during, and well after what she hopes will soon prove to be little more than a briefly successful outburst on the part of the MAGA right.”

A New Introduction to the Austrian School

“After discussing Menger, the authors go on to present the ideas of subsequent major figures in the history of the Austrian school, including Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Israel Kirzner, and Murray Rothbard.”

Claiming the Classical Tradition

Claiming the Classical Tradition

“The book stands as a powerful argument that the Classical Tradition has been essential to the lived Black experience in the United States for four centuries. And consequently, the book asserts that any attempts to deny such a connection severs Black Americans from a heritage to which they owe much and from which they will find a treasure trove of wisdom.”

The Geography of the Peace at Eighty

The Geography of the Peace at Eighty

“…Spykman’s book was meant to educate American policymakers and citizens on the permanent geopolitical factors that should guide U.S. foreign policy into the future. Some of Spykman’s ideas resonate in 2024.”

Russell Kirk and Japan: Enamored by the Dead

Russell Kirk and Japan: Enamored by the Dead

“Kirk’s multifaceted persona, blending serious conservative thought with a penchant for the mysterious, underscores the complexity of his intellectual legacy, which I continue to try to unravel even today.”

Is Life Worth Living?

Is Life Worth Living?

“Both on authority and through his own insights and experiences, Kirk had come to understand that there exists a realm of being beyond this temporal world and that a mysterious providence works in human affairs—that man is made for eternity. Such knowledge had been consolation and compensation for sorrow.”

Recovering the Person

Recovering the Person

“[Bailie] examines this impending, all-too-possible crisis facing Western societies by studying the construction, evolution, and coming apocalypse of the sovereign self.”

Contra Materialism and Gnosticism

Contra Materialism and Gnosticism

“Jones argues that our elites, by which he means ‘the most influential people in the richest parts of the world,’ have undermined our flourishing as human beings, and that we must rediscover our true meaning and purpose if we wish to achieve real happiness.”

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.

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