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.

The Long Decline of Liberalism

“Pilkington describes the many societal ills that this destruction of hierarchies entailed… While Pilkington’s diagnosis of liberalism as the source of these diseases seems sound, his confidence that global liberalism is collapsing rapidly and that the immediate future will be ‘post-liberal’ leaves me uneasy. Even if we grant that liberalism is an inherently unstable way of organizing a polity, does that really allow us to predict just how rapidly that instability will lead to a downfall?”

The British Empire on Trial

“[Biggar’s] book amounts to a defense of the British Empire. He succeeds at giving the reader ample reasons not to hate his home country, but also misses an opportunity to use his unique training to pioneer a more innovative form of history.”

A Heroic Little Sparrow Shines Brightly in the Dark World of Children’s Literature

“The story is as delightful and charming as it sounds, recounting the odyssey of a virtuous sparrow named Passer who must move his family to a new home after ‘big yellow machines’ appear at his home.”

History Is Never Certain

History Is Never Certain

“Tocqueville would urge us to follow him… by thinking with him, learning creatively from his life, and remembering that history is never predetermined, never written in advance. Zunz’s biography helps us to do just that.”

Reading Dante on His Terms

Reading Dante on His Terms

“Frisardi… shows his love for the Supreme Poet by gathering thoughtful essays on his work into a coherent, useful book that explores Dante on his terms.”

Men Rode to Catraeth

Men Rode to Catraeth

“Clarke reworks one of the most significant early Welsh poems into a modern song that anyone can appreciate. She reminds us that poetry must first and foremost move its readers, must cast a spell of words and rhythm that incites our passions and our imaginations.”

The Causes of Moral Agency

The Causes of Moral Agency

“Particularly in these hyper-polarized times, conservatives should be the first to break out of the blame-the-system-versus-blame-the-victim false dichotomy.”

Resurrecting John Keats

Resurrecting John Keats

“Lucasta Miller, in her brilliant new book on Keats, writes, ‘To read him is to participate in an invisible web that has connected human beings over millennia via the literary imagination.'”

Partisan Citizens

Partisan Citizens

“Citizenship demands open-minded discourse among persons from different backgrounds and with varying ideas in the interest of forming and preserving a consensus concerning the most advisable form of government.”

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.

The Long Decline of Liberalism
Gene Callahan on "The Collapse of Global Liberalism: And the Emergence of the Post Liberal World Order" by
@philippilk. Polity Press.

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