About Us
Lyceum is a quarterly journal dedicated to compiling the best American (and proto-American) thought and writing on themes as urgent as they are enduring, in a volume that you’ll keep proudly on your bookshelf for years to come.
Our Mission
In the age of high-tech media, we have traded control of information for convenience. All the knowledge in the world is in your pocket. But it is filtered through the ever-present algorithm and subject to the whims of a few digital overlords. More often than not, you read only what someone else wants you to read; more often than not, that someone else has something other than your best interests in mind. In this world everything is fluid, and nothing is yours. The narrative, the facts, the very fabric of a carefully crafted reality can be altered or erased in the blink of an eye.
In these circumstances, it is all the more important to take hold of the permanent things where we still can. Lyceum aims to do that in both form and substance: to gather the best of American thought and writing in beautifully designed volumes that demand to be preserved.
Each issue of Lyceum addresses a theme that is both timeless and immediately relevant, beginning with Mob Rule, our Winter 2025 issue. These issues will bring together major essays on the theme stretching from the classical era to the present day with vivid illustrations from American history and literature. The result is a coherent whole that can (and should) be read cover to cover, where each piece takes on new meaning in new context, and even the most familiar piece of American wisdom takes on new light in application to the problems of our day.
At just $50 for an annual membership, the value of Lyceum — just like so much else between its covers — is unmatched by any other publication on the market.
Who We are
Declan Leary
Editor
Declan Leary is the editor of Lyceum: A Journal of American Letters. Previously, he was managing editor and then a senior editor of The American Conservative, and editor-in-chief of The Dallas Express. His first book, on the populist tradition in the postwar Republican Party, will be published in 2025. His writings have appeared in National Review, The Lamp, The Spectator, and City Journal, among other publications. He lives with his wife in his hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where his first American ancestors arrived aboard the Mayflower in 1620.
David Bahr
Executive Editor
David Bahr is executive editor of Lyceum: A Journal of American Letters. He was most recently head of communications for the Claremont Institute and, for a time, managing editor of Claremont’s publication The American Mind. He previously worked as head of communications for the R Street Institute and assistant literary editor at The Weekly Standard. His writing has appeared in every major regional and national newspaper in America, both under his byline and under the byline of “hard-working” elected officials and corporate-types. He is co-host of a weekly podcast, The New Thinkery, devoted to political philosophy and the Western canon.
David was born in Paraguay and is a direct descendent (through a bastard child) of José Rodríguez de Francia, the “Supreme and Perpetual Dictator of Paraguay.” David is an American citizen.
Nick Short
Chief Digital Officer
Nick Short is chief digital officer of Lyceum: A Journal of American Letters. Nick currently serves as CTO for Tom Klingenstein and as an analyst for The America Fund. Prior to joining Lyceum, Nick worked as a Communications Director for the Claremont Institute, an Analyst for the Security Studies Group, and as a Digital consultant for Salem Media, the Center for Security Policy, and CRTV. He has also consulted for the State Department and the White House. Nick was born in Arizona and currently resides in North Carolina with his wife.
Philip Chalk
Design Director
Philip Chalk is design director of Lyceum. He serves in the same role for the Washington Examiner magazine, and did so for the Weekly Standard magazine from 2007 to 2018. He is a former magazine writer and managing editor, nonprofit communications director, and freelance illustrator.