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.

Ideas Matter Now More Than Ever

“…Hörcher and Pitt convey theory by packaging it within the particularity of British politics that has been informed by intellectual conservatism.”

America’s Treasured Declaration

“It serves us with a reminder that the Declaration is America’s most sacred relic, a symbol of our founding principles, and a text that continues to play a quintessential part in American culture. The Declaration of Independence binds us together and makes us one nation.”

Beyond the Tithe: Unearthing Two Millennia of Christian Political Economy

“Themes of wealth, poverty, and greed pervade early Christian writing about markets. So, too, do concerns about justice in price, profit, and lending at interest.”

A Liberal Who Met the Cancel Mob

A Liberal Who Met the Cancel Mob

“Biggar sees this aversion to reason and evidence (at least when they interfere with a politically useful narrative) to contain ‘the springs of tyranny,’ since once those are abandoned, the only means left to resolve disagreements is power. Thus, ‘postcolonialists and other “progressive” zealots assume an aggressive, intimidating, repressive, tyrannical posture.’”

The Midwestern Gothic Stories of Eric Cyr

The Midwestern Gothic Stories of Eric Cyr

“It is an unabashedly Midwestern endeavor in every way—a collection of short stories set entirely in the Midwest, written by a Midwestern author, and published by a proudly Midwestern independent publisher that has been producing top-quality books since its inception in 2013. “

Joseph Story and the Politics of the Early Republic

Joseph Story and the Politics of the Early Republic

“the central theme of Clarke’s study is the extent to which the case for the federal common law rests on a thoroughly nationalist understanding of the American founding and union. At a basic level, a common law requires a common people. But even more importantly, Story needed a narrative of consolidated American nationhood to fill the yawning gap in his theory—that there was never any direct, national adoption of the common law.”

Listening to the Law, and Now Speaking It

Listening to the Law, and Now Speaking It

“Justice Barrett thus roots an originalist mode of judging in history and tradition. Judging rightly is an inherently conservative endeavor: the judiciary’s very claim to review the work of the political branches draws each political act back to past writing, either in the Constitution or the United States Code. Keeping our politics within the scope of ordered liberty—and most importantly a written text—makes the judiciary the branch that preserves and tempers us in the face of the revolutionary instinct to throw off the so-called ‘dead hand of the past.’” 

One Man’s Journey to Faith

One Man’s Journey to Faith

“Regardless of one’s beliefs, Charles Murray’s [book] must be acknowledged as a notable work. It is a heartfelt account of one man’s (actually, one couple’s) acceptance of religious faith and of Christianity in particular, and while not a work of scholarship, it is informed by extensive reading and decades of thought. Like the work of C.S. Lewis, which inspired Murray’s turn toward Christianity, it is written in an admirably direct and accessible style.”

Yearning and Collapsing

Yearning and Collapsing

“Joshua Hren has already demonstrated his mastery of probing and satirizing contemporary pathologies in this novel’s predecessor… which was also a tragic drama but filled with more comedic interludes. In this loose yet independent sequel, Hren focuses on three major characters whose broken lives exhibit three cultural phenomena…”

Plan a Visit Soon

Plan a Visit Soon

“The pieces are set primarily at Hadas’s house in rural northern Vermont, and the house itself becomes the intersection where the tangible and intangible, the present and past, even prose and poetry, inextricably blend.”

Preparing for Leisure

Preparing for Leisure

“If modern technology is making it increasingly possible to have the opportunities for leisure that Athenian citizens had, then there has never been a better time to rediscover this forgotten ideal.”

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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