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.

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.”

A Forgotten Russian Immigrant Poet in Hollywood

“Nostalgia unquestionably captivates all émigrés. There you may be, decades gone from the old country, and glad of it. Yet still you long for the taste of familiar foods, the sight of those Russian birch trees, and the sound of the language you never have the opportunity to speak outside the home.”

The Celebrity-Industrial Complex

The Celebrity-Industrial Complex

“Beaty points to a widespread spiritual hunger, a desire for intimacy and connection to something larger… In the absence of deep attachments to the real people around you, celebrity provides the façade of intimacy.

The Death and Life of Jane Jacobs’s Hometown

The Death and Life of Jane Jacobs’s Hometown

“Jane Jacobs is arguably not the main “character” of the book, however. It is Scranton itself, whose struggle to develop and survive in an ever-changing global economy makes it emblematic of American economic history.”

Ted McAllister’s Place: A Memorial Tribute

Ted McAllister’s Place: A Memorial Tribute

“Ted will, of course, be remembered most for his scholarship. But it is a testament to the right order of his soul that he lived in a manner that prioritized his faith, his family, and his primary vocation as a teacher over worldly success.”

Losing Homer

Losing Homer

“…while Homer is… critical of elements of battle, he is not necessarily an anti-war poet. War is awful, but it activates certain deeply human qualities that demonstrate true human greatness.”

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.

A Forgotten Russian Immigrant Poet in Hollywood
@NadyaWilliams81 on "Sidetracked: Exile in Hollywood" by Alexander Voloshin. Translated by Boris Dralyuk. Paul Dry Books.

The Scientific Evidence for God
Thomas Griffin on "God, The Science, The Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution" by Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies. Palomar Publishers.

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