Monster is the Machine
The Bovadium Fragments: Together with The Origin of Bovadium By J. R. R. Tolkien. William Morrow, 2025. Hardcover, 144 pages, $26.99. Reviewed by Ben Reinhard. When Russell Kirk decried the automobile as “a mechanical Jacobin”—a revolutionary naturally destructive of...
Enchanting Criticism: Dana Gioia as Literary Critic
Poetry as Enchantment: And Other Essays By Dana Gioia. Paul Dry Books, 2024. Paperback, 272 pages, $21.95. Reviewed by Oliver Spivey. In his essay titled “Reading,” W. H. Auden sets forth what he views as the special duties of the literary critic: What is the function...
Why Cervantes’ Don Quixote Matters
By Pedro Blas Gonzalez. Plainness, Sancho, for all affectation is bad (Llaneza, Sancho, que toda afectación es mala). – Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes addresses perennial concerns about human nature and reality, the snare of confusing...
Humane Literature and the Divided Soul
The Divided Soul: Duty and Desire in Literature and Life By Heidi White. Goldberry, 2025. Hardcover, 238 pages. $29.00. Reviewed by Gary Hartenburg. Heidi White’s debut book, The Divided Soul: Duty and Desire in Literature and Life, unites a memoir in fragments with a...
Here's @ubookman editor @lsheahan on academic freedom.
“If the university no longer seeks the production and dissemination of knowledge, it loses the primary justification for its academic freedom.”
More from @lsheahan here: https://civitasoutlook.pulse.ly/nezohkn6cc
"The first question, and perhaps the most pressing one when reviewing a book by @McCormickProf, is this: Even in the comparatively small world of intellectual conservatism, is there anything George isn’t doing?" - R. McKay Stangler in @ubookman