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 Perennial Relevance of Edmund Burke
“…a putative freedom outside of the moral norms of the Christian religion (whether expressed as liberalism, socialism, communism, or some versions of conservatism) is quite a different thing to the real freedom to which human beings have, in Burke’s thinking, a natural right.”
The Inadequacy of Burke in Part
“…even those with a just passing knowledge of Burke know that… he is famous for… his skepticism, very qualified acceptance, and sometimes vehement denunciation, of rights-talk in general and of politics grounded in ‘natural rights’ or ‘rights of man’ in particular.”
Morality in Adam Smith
“Liberty in the Smithian sense was not exercised by utility-maximizing atoms but by relational creatures in community. Klein… shows that the advent of Smith-inspired liberal political economy was grounded in natural jurisprudence and moral philosophy.”
The Travels of the Ever Sesquipedalian William F. Buckley, Jr.
“Before technology turbocharged our lives, Buckley noted in 1995 that ‘everyday life moves fast.’ However, he learned that ‘a sailboat forces you to slow down…'”
Non-Western Conservatism
“…Robinson manages to trace the genesis and development of conservatism in Russia across three very different epochs.”
The Personal Foundation of Reality
“…the source of reality itself must be personal in some way. As Rasmussen puts it: ‘A big thesis, then, that emerges from my inquiry is this: reality is deeply personal…”
Our Republic and How We Lost It: Philip Hamburger on the Structure of Self-Government
“For decades, Philip Hamburger has been writing penetrating analyses of Americans’ descent from citizens of a constitutional republic to subjects, not of a soft, but of a ‘sinister’ despotism.”
A Cure For Boredom
“Kevin Hood Gary’s book… is an important contribution to the Aristotelian tradition, which emphasizes the importance of how human beings use their free time.”
Communism: Product of the Fallen West
“The reason the Western world should fear Communism, according to Sheen, is not because it is a strong force but rather because the West is weak due to the fact that it has turned away from God and morality.”
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.
"In reminding us of the moral and spiritual core at the heart of liberalism, Walsh goes far in breaching our ideological divide."
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