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.
More From Our Highlights & News
The Richard D. McLellan Prizes in the Wall Street Journal
On Thursday, May 23rd, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed that former Michigan Governor John Engler and Kirk Center CEO Jeff Nelson wrote announcing a new Kirk Center initiative aimed at offering a constructive response to the free speech and academic freedom...
Remembering Russell Kirk on the 30th Anniversary of his Passing
This present life here below, Kirk had perceived often in his mind’s eye, is an ephemeral existence, precarious, as in an arena rather than upon a stage: some men are meant to be gladiators or knights-errant, not mere strolling players. Swords drawn, they stand on a...
Professor Hiro Aida speaks on Russell Kirk and Japan in Tampa, Florida
On April 19 and 21, Professor Hiro Aida of Kansai University gave two lectures sponsored by the Russell Kirk Center and the Japanese Consulate-General in Miami. These lectures were designed to dovetail with a meeting of the Philadelphia Society in Tampa and so to...
Celebrating the Conservative Mind at 70 in Washington, D.C.
On December 5, we celebrated the 70th anniversary of Russell Kirk's landmark work, The Conservative Mind, a book that gave the conservative movement in America both a name and an awareness of our cultural, intellectual, and moral patrimony. More than 300 guests...