America and the Great Tradition
Faith in the Western Tradition "The trials of the citizen now surpass anything that previous generations ever knew. Private and public propaganda beats upon him from morning till night all his life long. If independent judgment is the sine qua non of effective citizenship in a democracy, then it must be admitted that such judgment is harder to maintain now than it ever has been before." (Preface) Readers may be familiar with the 54-volume set called Great Books of the Western World. Women are entirely absent from this history, which was published in 1952. The choice of texts is based primarily on the ancient Latin and Greek classics; renaissance and enlightenment philosophy and literature, and some of the key texts on politics, history and science from the nineteenth century. Despite its American roots and sponsorship, only Herman Melville, William James, the "American State Papers" and "The Federalist" are featured from the native seats of lear