The University Bookman at 60: A Retrospective

This year, the University Bookman celebrates its 60th year of publication. Historian George Nash charts the journal from its origins in an arrangement between Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley Jr. to its evolution into a respected source for cultural commentary from a conservative perspective in his essay “Defending the Right and the Good.” Looking back at the challenges to its continuity, Nash finds several lessons, among them:

 

The University Bookman’s story exemplifies what can happen when a person of conservative persuasion takes a stand and casts a proverbial pebble into a pond. No one can predict what the consequences may be. I suspect that Kirk often thought of this as he edited his low-key periodical and watched its ripples press outward with each issue.

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