The University Bookman

Reviewing Books that Build Culture

Defending the Christian Faith

100 Tough Questions for Catholics: Common Obstacles To Faith Today By David Bonagura Jr. Sophia Institute Press, 2025. Paperback, 176 pages, $17.95. Reviewed by David Weinberger.  n the day to day trenches of adult life,” writes David Foster...

Lessons from Sparta

“…Sparta’s Third Attic War and its predecessors are philosophical meditations on such weighty issues as the rise and fall of civilizations and the fundamental motives of major players within these civilizations.”

The Character of the People is the Character of the Regime

“To see why ‘realism’ is inadequate as a paradigm, Rahe seeks to rehabilitate the old idea of grand strategy as crucial for the competent study of international affairs.”

Defending the Christian Faith

100 Tough Questions for Catholics: Common Obstacles To Faith Today By David Bonagura Jr. Sophia Institute Press, 2025. Paperback, 176 pages, $17.95. Reviewed by David Weinberger.  n the day to day trenches of adult life,” writes David Foster...
Halting the Assembly Line Life

Halting the Assembly Line Life

“Williams’s consideration of our culture’s denigration of life is a deep and thorough one, as she considers not merely overt manifestations but even subtle messaging…”

Looking at U.S. Trade Policy Through a Historical Lens

Looking at U.S. Trade Policy Through a Historical Lens

“…it is more important than ever that the electorate have a clear-eyed guide to follow, one that does not engage in fear mongering about the end of neoliberalism or the return to a mercantilist economic system, but that provides readers with ample context and useful anecdotes.”

The Mystery of Imitation

The Mystery of Imitation

“…Haven draws attention to the relevance of Girard’s writings for our times. When reading many of the other chapters she chose, I could not help thinking about contemporary American social and political disorders. In ‘The Totalitarian Trial’ and ‘Retribution,’ for example, Girard argues Job’s alleged friends, like Stalin’s interrogators, are really representatives of the community demanding Job’s consent to his own persecution. The unity of the community hinges on Job’s willingness to confess his ‘crimes.’ Only then can he be killed and forgotten, ‘unpersoned,’ as Orwell would say. A similar dynamic is at work in cancel culture.”

An Italian Apologia for the American Electoral System

An Italian Apologia for the American Electoral System

“The purpose of the book is to understand the reasons for the intricate electoral system, which has proven to be remarkably stable and orderly throughout American history. Mainly addressed to an Italian audience that is naturally less familiar with American voting, it can also be useful for Americans to understand how the whole design is ordered to secure a fair system against totalitarian democracy.”

Irving Babbitt’s Defense of the Humanities

Democracy and Leadership at 100: Lessons for the 21st Century

“…Russell Kirk… calls it ‘one of the few truly important works of political thought to be written by an American in the twentieth century—or, for that matter, during the past two centuries.’ He saw clearly that Babbitt’s diagnosis of the post-WWI moment was rooted in a deep understanding of timeless elements of the human condition. Moreover, because the trends Babbitt discussed in the 1920s have continued largely unabated since that time, his critique of them and prescriptions to remedy them remain salient.”

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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