Introduction

Just over 100 years ago Columbia’s John Erskine started a General Honors program that was the precursor of the Great Books programs popularized by his student, Mortimer Adler.

Controversy Surrounding the Term "Great Books"

As a set term “Great Books” has elicited more than some controversy, especially because most relatively short lists of such works mostly features “dead white men”.

Universal Appeal of the Great Ideas

However, most any group in America has made the Great Ideas their own.

Focus of the Book

This book explores the benefits of reading “Great Books,” and is virtually unique in detailing what a series of Great Books classes has looked like over the past decades.