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 Urbanity of Russell Kirk

“The urban fabric must also be mended and darned through continuous upkeep. The city is not yours to experiment. From Russell to Russello, our ancestral spirits cast their shadows whether or not we choose to observe the city of god in the cities of men.”

Enchanting Criticism: Dana Gioia as Literary Critic 

“Gioia’s latest book is a testament to the persistence of authentic criticism in an age suspicious of and even hostile to literary values.”

The Machine or the Garden?

“What Kingsnorth brilliantly exposes in Against the Machine is how the progressive vision of scientific, industrial, and technological progress is actually destroying the wisdom of the past in its merciless pursuit of perfection. Kingsnorth reminds us of the great taboo of modernity: ‘There is no such thing as a perfect society, and anyone who tries to build one will either go mad or become a tyrant.’”

What Plato Meant

“…Princeton University philosopher and political theorist Melissa Lane explores Plato’s notion of rule and governorship, attempting to refresh the humanistic, liberal reading of Plato’s political theory.”

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.

More Than a Commercial Republic

More Than a Commercial Republic

“Given recent ideological and partisan shifts, Gregg argues, America today faces a choice between the path of free markets or state capitalism.”

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.

"Don Quixote makes life the protagonist. The affirmation of life is truly Don Quixote’s quest. The venerable knight-errant seeks more than life from his life." — Pedro Blas Gonzalez.

Melissa Lane is one of many left-liberal thinkers seeking a middle ground between “canceling” great thinkers and those in the New Right who seek to co-opt them for their postliberal vision. - Jesse Russell

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