Rome and America: Communities of Strangers, Spectacles of Belonging By Dean Hammer. Cambridge University Press, 2023. Hardcover, 262 pages, $110.00. Reviewed by Jesse Russell. Since its inception, America has been many things, but, in a certain sense, it has always...
Wit’s Treasury: Renaissance England and the Classics By Stephen Orgel. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021. Hardcover, 216 pages, $39.95. Reviewed by John Tuttle. What is a classic? It’s a provocative question for the literary-bent mind. Just what...
Shakespeare and the Idea of Western Civilization By R. V. Young. Catholic University of America Press, 2022. Paperback, 280 pages, $34.95. Reviewed by Michael Yost. It would be almost a miracle if anyone who has read, understood, and formed opinions around the...
In honor of Gerald J. Russello. By John Emmet Clarke. Editor’s Note: In celebration of Christmas, The University Bookman presents to you the keynote address delivered by John Emmet Clarke on November 14, 2022, at an event in honor of former Bookman editor Gerald...
Hearing Homer’s Song: The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry By Robert Kanigel. Knopf, 2021. Hardcover, 336 pages, $28.95. Reviewed by J. L. Wall. It can be difficult to escape the image of Homer as blind bard and near-inventor of human literature. Just glance at...
"[Steely Dan} songs capture a certain temperamental #conservatism, equal parts cynicism towards the promise of a brighter tomorrow and yearning for a sense of social order long past, that feels right at home in our age of fractured shabbiness."