The University Bookman
Reviewing Books that Build Culture
Talking Classical Education
“It is an introduction to the pedagogical life of a classical school. It is a philosophical argument for a particular approach to being a classical teacher. It is a work of cumulative experiences which manifest in teacherly wisdom. And it is a treatise aimed at critiquing the Modern Industrial Model of Education which has characterized the last several decades of American schooling.”
Liberal Education and Its Critics
“Taylor’s biggest concern appears as he nears his conclusion and is not so much that the humanities envy the sciences but that the humanities are largely responsible for their own destruction. He writes, ‘…perhaps the very project of thinking about our values—a project at the heart of the arts and humanities broadly conceived—is either feared or no longer widely valued in our society….there is a powerful and increasingly unselfconscious utilitarianism at work.’”
Poetry of Transcendence
“A related, and most welcome, theme in Killing Orpheus is memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death. Our lives have become so long, easy, and comfortable that death has become something of an inconvenient truth, which many prefer to ignore or forget. McClatchey is not one of them, thankfully: the collection abounds with reminders of our mortality.”
The Consensus Reality
“In his study of an underlying consensus regarding education, race, and gender, Jonathan Butcher has performed a valuable service for those who wish to understand the true nature of the so-called division within American society today.”
Britain at the Turning Point
“A major theme that runs through Allport’s study is the shifting equilibrium of power relations between the United States and Britain. The war demonstrated that, as British power and resources dwindled, Britain became dependent on material and financial supplies from the United States.”
Shakespeare Forever
“…in his rich and thorough exploration of not only Shakespeare’s thoughts but also the course of Western thinking, David Womersley demonstrates that ideas do matter, and that Shakespeare is bigger than the harsh but ultimately timid emotions of our age.”
The Innocence of Imagination
“…the innocence that Blake’s poetry sings of is the awe, wonder, and imagination of a child who can conceive of boundless relationships with everything from a flower or butterfly to sister, brother, mother, and father. ‘Growing up,’ Vernon writes in addressing Blake’s poetic philosophy of innocence and imagination, ‘need not mean losing innocence and wonder.’ In fact, a mature innocence that can blend realism with imaginative creativity is key to a good and joyful life.”
A Problem Deeper than Groupthink
“Now a new volume comes our way from the busy desk of Robert P. George… an essay collection spanning subjects from Catholicism and civic order to ‘gnostic liberalism’ to the interplay of markets and civil society. Despite the broad subject matter, George’s overarching aim in this new collection is to discern how it is that civilization evolved from the ‘Age of Faith’ in the medieval period to the ‘Age of Reason’ of the Enlightenment and its aftermath, only to now arrive at what he calls the ‘Age of Feelings.’”
Reconsidering Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Roosevelt’s true genius was the practice of politics. But his success at that practice did not come without costs of its own. Roosevelt may well have believed that his political success and his country’s economic recovery would proceed along parallel paths. But the evidence suggests otherwise. In fact, reading Beito leads one to surmise that the Rooseveltian preoccupation with the politics of leadership may well have significantly delayed and even retarded the very recovery that was supposed to result from his leadership.”
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.
This is good. I’d like to see a follow up piece on Wood’s The American Revolution and on Power & Liberty. Also, maybe some comment on the essay in The Idea of America that walks back the claim in Creation that 1789 marked the end of classical
Politics (the button interests and
“Anton’s book, and his entire worldview, stand as direct challenges to elite preferences and institutions: Okay, boomer, what next?”
Quite the review of Michael Anton's book from Brad Watson in @KirkCenter's @ubookman. https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/a-man-for-all-seasons/
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