The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Support the University Bookman during our annual Kirktober Fundraiser, and receive an audio copy of Kirk’s short story, What Shadows We Pursue.

Kirktober 2025: James Panero and Adam Simon on the Haunted House

October 28, 2025

On Tuesday, October 28, at 6:00 PM, you are invited to join University Bookman editor Luke Sheahan, Hollywood screenwriter Adam Simon, and New Criterion executive editor James Panero, as they explore the theme of the haunted house in gothic literature and its relationship to conservative thought and imagination.

Register for this free webinar here.

Defending the Christian Faith

“In 100 Tough Questions For Catholics: Common Obstacles To Faith Today… David G. Bonagura, Jr. gives bite-sized answers to dozens of big questions about the faith.”

Aliens to Life

“…the mundane activities of ‘waiting in line, writing by hand, remote learning, navigation, boredom’ may be the only thing keeping us from becoming machines.”

The Postwar British Conservative Movement

“Kowol identifies three prominent stands within the conservative movement in Britain that, to use Nash’s words, wanted ‘to change it, restore it, preserve it.'”

Leisure and the Lost Ascent 

“…leisure cannot be achieved when it is sought as a means to an end, even if that end is something as noble as the salvation of Western civilization. The ultimate root of leisure, divine worship, is beyond the reach of the human will. Though leisure requires willing openness to God’s grace, even that openness is itself a grace.”

In Defense of Maintenance 

In Defense of Maintenance 

According to Vinsel and Russell, “The Innovation Delusion is the false belief that the pursuit of innovation and novelty will lead us into the promised land of growth and profit when, in reality, it will lead us to ignore the ever-accumulating pile of deferred maintenance and infrastructural debt—and, in the process, lead individuals toward burnout and our society to accelerating levels of exploitation and inequality.” 

Sowing Seeds in Useless Fields

Sowing Seeds in Useless Fields

“The drawing and quartering of liberal arts is the death of learning. The politics of special interests and the politicization of classrooms by activists posing as educators tilts the classroom towards indoctrination, ‘the dark and evil twin of teaching.'”

Christopher Dawson and Cultural Crisis

The Cultured Mind of Christopher Dawson

“Always in [Dawson’s] work is a sense of the creative interactions between religion and culture, between past and present, between man and his environment, between the material and the spiritual. Dawson had the confidence and humility of a polymath.”

Theologian of the Heart

Theologian of the Heart

On the passing of Pope Benedict XVI, we rerun this review essay by Religion Editor David Bonagura, which was originally published on October 20, 2008.

The Book Gallery

A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.

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