A Great Idea at the Time

The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books

Nonfiction, Home & Garden, Antiques & Collectibles, Books, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book A Great Idea at the Time by Alex Beam, PublicAffairs
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Author: Alex Beam ISBN: 9780786726981
Publisher: PublicAffairs Publication: November 4, 2008
Imprint: PublicAffairs Language: English
Author: Alex Beam
ISBN: 9780786726981
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication: November 4, 2008
Imprint: PublicAffairs
Language: English

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?

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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?

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