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.”

The Case Against Buckley

“From the geography of Sharon to the faculty at Yale, Buckley took on an entrenched progressive elite. His great achievement was to manifest an alternative American aristocracy, a counter-elite that took full form in the presidency of Ronald Reagan.”

Beyond Stoicism

“The revival in interest in stoicism should not surprise. Stoic philosophy naturally attracts adherents in troubled times: it summons to duty, educates in constancy, and inspires self-mastery because it speaks to perennial human needs.”

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.”

Alasdair MacIntyre: Philosopher of the Ages

Alasdair MacIntyre: Philosopher of the Ages

Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922 Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, Md.) 208 pp., $33.00 cloth, 2005 The Tasks of Philosophy: Selected Essays, Vol. 1 Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, U.K.) 244 pp., $70.00 cloth, 2006 Ethics and Politics: Selected...

Reforming Education Begins (and ends) with the Virtues

Reforming Education Begins (and ends) with the Virtues

Teaching the Virtues By David Hein. Mecosta House, 2025. Paperback, 222 pages, $16.95. Reviewed by Thomas Griffin. ristotle famously began his Metaphysics with a foundational principle: “All men by nature desire to know.” This leads to two further...

Irretrievable Eden

Irretrievable Eden

Outside The Gates of Eden By David Middleton. Measure Press, 2023. Hardcover, 114 pages, $25. Reviewed by Madeleine Austin. avid Middleton’s Outside the Gates of Eden is a collection of formal poems rooted in contemplation of the Book of Genesis....

Renewing Our Understanding of True Freedom

Renewing Our Understanding of True Freedom

Called to Freedom: Retrieving Christian Liberty in an Age of License By Brad Littlejohn. B&H Academic, 2025. Paperback, 192 pages, $22.99. Reviewed by Andrew Fowler. reedom could be Modernity’s most overused yet least understood word. In an...

Abolitionism’s George Washington

Abolitionism’s George Washington

The Conductor: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism’s Essential Founding Father By Caleb Franz. Post Hill Press, 2024. Paperback, 336 pages, $18.99. Reviewed by Peter Biles. he past is like a waterfall, and history is like the glass of water...

Life During Wartime

Life During Wartime

To Go On Living: Stories By Narine Abgaryan. Plough, 2025. Hardcover, 220 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Michial Farmer. odern Westerners live with a delusion. We actually live with a lot of delusions, but perhaps the most insidious one is that the...

The Triumph of Love

The Triumph of Love

Muses of a Fire: Essays on Faith, Film, and Literature By Paul Krause. Stone Tower Press, 2024. Paperback, 227 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Jesse Russell. oman Polanski’s 1974 masterpiece Chinatown is not only a classic of film noir, but it is also...

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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