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.
Two Tolkiens on View
Alexi Sargeant reviews the exhibit Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth, now at the Morgan Library in New York through May.
Why Make Men Pigs
Colleen Curran reviews Madeline Miller’s move from myth to novel as she works with a character from the Odyssey.
A Conflicted Idea of America
Craig Bruce Smith reviews Jill Lepore’s treatment of America’s founding eras in the first of four pieces on These Truths.
What Hath Lepore Wrought
Daniel N. Gullotta assesses Jill Lepore’s treatment of America’s antebellum and Civil War eras.
Citizenship and the Fitful History of the American Way
Robert Greene II reviews the third part of Jill Lepore’s new history, covering the period from Reconstruction through World War II.
Recent Domestic History
Lauren Turek reviews the final section of Jill Lepore’s new history of the United States, covering post–World War II to early Trump.
Would You Recognize a Dystopia If You Saw One?
Ryan J. Barilleaux helps us take a deeper look at our glib use of dystopian rhetoric.
Churchill as Communicator
Joseph Bottum and Benjamin F. Jones review a major new biography of Churchill.
Tribe, Nation, Empire
Glenn A. Moots reviews Yoram Hazony’s valuable The Virtue of Nationalism.
The Book Gallery
A collection of conversations with Bookman editor Luke C. Sheahan and writers and authors of imagination and erudition.
