The Great Books

Author : Alex Beam
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2010-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781458758576

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A Great Idea at the Time by Alex Beam Pdf

Today the classics of the western canon, written by the proverbial ''dead white men,'' are cannon fodder in the culture wars. But in the 1950s and 1960s, they were a pop culture phenomenon. The Great Books of Western Civilization, fifty-four volumes chosen by intellectuals at the University of Chicago, began as an educational movement, and evolved into a successful marketing idea. Why did a million American households buy books by Hippocrates and Nicomachus from door-to-door salesmen? And how and why did the great books fall out of fashion? In A Great Idea at the Time Alex Beam explores the Great Books mania, in an entertaining and strangely poignant portrait of American popular culture on the threshold of the television age. Populated with memorable characters, A Great Idea at the Time will leave readers asking themselves: Have I read Lucretius's De Rerum Natura lately? If not, why not?

Author : Roosevelt Montas
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2023-03-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780691224398

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Rescuing Socrates by Roosevelt Montas Pdf

A Dominican-born academic tells the story of how the Great Books transformed his life—and why they have the power to speak to people of all backgrounds What is the value of a liberal education? Traditionally characterized by a rigorous engagement with the classics of Western thought and literature, this approach to education is all but extinct in American universities, replaced by flexible distribution requirements and ever-narrower academic specialization. Many academics attack the very idea of a Western canon as chauvinistic, while the general public increasingly doubts the value of the humanities. In Rescuing Socrates, Dominican-born American academic Roosevelt Montás tells the story of how a liberal education transformed his life, and offers an intimate account of the relevance of the Great Books today, especially to members of historically marginalized communities. Montás emigrated from the Dominican Republic to Queens, New York, when he was twelve and encountered the Western classics as an undergraduate in Columbia University’s renowned Core Curriculum, one of America’s last remaining Great Books programs. The experience changed his life and determined his career—he went on to earn a PhD in English and comparative literature, serve as director of Columbia’s Center for the Core Curriculum, and start a Great Books program for low-income high school students who aspire to be the first in their families to attend college. Weaving together memoir and literary reflection, Rescuing Socrates describes how four authors—Plato, Augustine, Freud, and Gandhi—had a profound impact on Montás’s life. In doing so, the book drives home what it’s like to experience a liberal education—and why it can still remake lives.

Author : David Denby
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 518 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-18
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781439127155

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Great Books by David Denby Pdf

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* “A lively adventure of the mind...The tone of the prose...is one of unqualified enthusiasm: energy, vigor, intellectual curiosity, and what might be called an ecstasy of imaginative journalism.” —The New York Times Book Review At the age of forty-eight, writer and film critic David Denby returned to Columbia University and re-enrolled in two core courses in Western civilization to confront the literary and philosophical masterpieces -- the "great books" -- that are now at the heart of the culture wars. In Great Books, he leads us on a glorious tour, a rediscovery and celebration of such authors as Homer and Boccaccio, Locke and Nietzsche. Conrad and Woolf. The resulting personal odyssey is an engaging blend of self-discovery, cultural commentary, reporting, criticism, and autobiography -- an inspiration for anyone in love with the written word.

Author : John Mark Reynolds
Publisher : Baker Books
Page : 656 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2011-09-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781441259905

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The Great Books Reader by John Mark Reynolds Pdf

Great Books programs have become increasingly popular among Christian colleges, high schools, and even home schoolers. This one-of-a-kind book is designed for those who do not have the opportunity to attend such a program but are still interested in directly engaging with the Western Canon. It contains substantial excerpts from thirty of the most important books in history, with each excerpt followed by an essay placing the work in historical and Christian context. Readers can learn directly from such authors and thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, de Tocqueville, Freud, and Chesterton. Selected as one of 2011's Best Books for Preachers by Preaching Magazine

Author : Paul F. Kisak
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 574 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2017-08-08
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 197590205X

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The Great Books of the Western World by Paul F. Kisak Pdf

This 2 volume set gives a synopsis of more than 500 of these Great Books of The Western World by 161 authors which originally consisted of over 6 feet of books in 54 volumes.The Great Books of Western The Western World are books that are thought to constitute an essential foundation in the literature of Western culture. Specified sets of great books typically range from 100 to 150, though they differ according to purpose and context. For instance, some lists are built to be read by undergraduates in a college semester system (130 books, Torrey Honors Institute), some are compiled to be sold as a single set of volumes (500 books, Mortimer Adler), while some lists aim at a thorough literary criticism (2,400 books, Harold Bloom).The great books are those that tradition, and various institutions and authorities, have regarded as constituting or best expressing the foundations of Western culture (the Western canon is a similar but broader designation); derivatively the term also refers to a curriculum or method of education based around a list of such books. Mortimer Adler lists three criteria for including a book on the list:* the book has contemporary significance; that is, it has relevance to the problems and issues of our times;* the book is inexhaustible; it can be read again and again with benefit; "This is an exacting criterion, an ideal that is fully attained by only a small number of the 511 works that we selected. It is approximated in varying degrees by the rest." * the book is relevant to a large number of the great ideas and great issues that have occupied the minds of thinking individuals for the last 25 centuries. The Great Books of the Western World is a hardcover 60-volume collection (originally 54 volumes) of the books on the great books list (about 517 individual works). Many of the books in the collection were translated into English for the first time.This book is designed to be a state of the art, superb academic reference work and provide an overview of the topic and give the reader a structured knowledge to familiarize yourself with the topic at the most affordable price possible.The accuracy and knowledge is of an international viewpoint as the edited articles represent the inputs of many knowledgeable individuals and some of the most current knowledge on the topic, based on the date of publication.

Author : W. John Campbell
Publisher : Metro Publishing, Limited
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : American literature
ISBN : 1586632043

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The Book of Great Books by W. John Campbell Pdf

Provides a list of one hundred world classics, offering information on plot, characters, main themes, symbolism, and composition for each book.

Author : Callihan Wesley
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2014-12-15
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0989702863

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The Aeneid Workbook - Old Western Culture by Callihan Wesley Pdf

Author : Robert Maynard Hutchins,Mortimer Jerome Adler
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 537 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1970
Category : Revolutions
ISBN : 0852291507

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The Great Ideas Today, 1970 by Robert Maynard Hutchins,Mortimer Jerome Adler Pdf

Author : T. Lacy
Publisher : Springer
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2013-11-26
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781137042620

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The Dream of a Democratic Culture by T. Lacy Pdf

This book presents a moderately revisionist history of the great books idea anchored in the following movements and struggles: fighting anti-intellectualism, advocating for the liberal arts, distributing cultural capital, and promoting a public philosophy, anchored in mid-century liberalism, that fostered a shared civic culture.

Author : Mortimer Jerome Adler
Publisher : Scribner
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Great books of the Western world
ISBN : 0684859211

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The Great Ideas by Mortimer Jerome Adler Pdf

Previously published: New York : Macmillan, 1992.

Author : Wm. Theodore De Bary
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 433 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2013-06-25
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780231535106

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The Great Civilized Conversation by Wm. Theodore De Bary Pdf

Having spent decades teaching and researching the humanities, Wm. Theodore de Bary is well positioned to speak on its merits and reform. Believing a classical liberal education is more necessary than ever, he outlines in these essays a plan to update existing core curricula by incorporating classics from both Eastern and Western traditions, thereby bringing the philosophy and moral values of Asian civilizations to American students and vice versa. The author establishes a concrete link between teaching the classics of world civilizations and furthering global humanism. Selecting texts that share many of the same values and educational purposes, he joins Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Western sources into a revised curriculum that privileges humanity and civility. He also explores the tradition of education in China and its reflection of Confucian and Neo-Confucian beliefs. He reflects on history's great scholar-teachers and what their methods can teach us today, and he dedicates three essays to the power of The Analects of Confucius, The Tale of Genji, and The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon in the classroom.

Author : Erica Bauermeister,Jesse Larsen,Holly Smith
Publisher : Penguin Group
Page : 452 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0140175903

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500 Great Books by Women by Erica Bauermeister,Jesse Larsen,Holly Smith Pdf

Often poorly represented in buyers' guides, women's books are now covered in this articulate and intentionally eclectic reader's guide. Covering a wealth of remarkable novels, narratives, biographies, and more, this resource for general readers offers more than 500 entries--capturing the flavor of each book. Includes seven cross-referenced indexes.

Author : J. A. Hammerton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 1973-01-01
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 082740218X

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Outline of Great Books by J. A. Hammerton Pdf

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2018-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 0945159803

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The Nature of Life, Volume 2 by Anonim Pdf

The Nature of Life: Readings in Biology, Volume 2

Author : Anthony O'Hear
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2023-10-17
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781684516872

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The Great Books by Anthony O'Hear Pdf

"An illuminating, learned, well-written, and entertaining survey of the giants of world literature. Busy people, and especially the young, will be grateful for this useful and concise introduction." —Paul Johnson Not simply a grand work of reference, The Great Books is a captivating journey through two-and-a-half millennia of the great Western tradition. The eminent British philosopher Anthony O'Hear is our capable tour guide, taking readers on an exhilarating tour through 2,500 years of books as powerful, thrilling, erotic, politically astute, and awe-inspiring as any modern bestseller. The Great Books is a fascinating narrative that encompasses history, myth, art, music, theater, and more. O'Hear sweeps us along from Homer's Iliad to Goethe's Faust, covering much ground in between. In Homer's poems of epic struggle we discover not only the fascination and pleasure we can derive, but also why these works became the fountainhead of Western literature. From Greek tragedy we feel the power of the ancient myths, while from Plato's Death of Socrates we see what may have killed off the tragic spirit. In Virgil's Aeneid we ponder the close connections to—and puzzling contrasts with—Homer; in Dante's terrifying and sublime Divine Comedy we encounter Virgil once again, this time as mentor and guide through Hell; and in Milton's phantasmagoric Paradise Lost we find the Christian story given epic shape and power. And of course, in Shakespeare we experience the great dramatist's particular and incomparable genius. There is much more beyond—from Ovid and Augustine to Chaucer and Cervantes, Pascal and Racine. The Great Books is a spirited and enlightening guide to the great works of the Western tradition, shot through with a love of literature and the author's deeply held belief in its power to enrich and enliven everyone's world.