Defining the Humanities: How Rediscovering a Tradition Can Improve Our Schools : With a Curriculum for Today's Students

By Robert E. Proctor

Book Overview

"Think of this as 'The Thinking Man's Bloom' or 'The Thinking Woman's Closing of the American Mind.' It takes up debates about education and reasons about them, where Bloom often only blasted away. . . . This is one of the more helpful recent statements of the case for the classics, accompanied by rather venturesome curricular suggestions." --Christian Century

"His exciting readable book calls for a return to a study of the classics--and of the Renaissance poets and scholars, like Petrarch, who rediscovered the classics." --Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World

" . . . a splendid statement bringing together in a careful and coherent way the prospects for a solid humanities curriculum." --Ernest L. Boyer

Ten years ago when this book was first published it was called Education's Great Amnesia: Reconsidering the Humanities from Petrarch to Freud. It is being reissued now in a second edition with a different title for a new generation of readers who cannot have forgotten what they never knew. What are the humanities? Can we agree on a core curriculum of humanistic studies? Robert Proctor answers these questions in a provocative, readable book.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253212197
• ISBN13: 9780253212191
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

conversation with the past

I don't know how helpful this book would be for someone developing a "curriculum for today's students", but it is an easily readable introduction to some influential characters in the history of Western civilization. For those who do not know Petrarch and Cicero, this book provides insight into their personal lives and thought processes. The ideas of the book are clearly laid out, at times too clearly, with many quotes and repeated concepts. The history of the humanities and past definitions are revealed, as well as thoughts about how the humanities and the liberal arts can be defined today. More than providing a clear cut definition of modern humanities, this book makes the reader think about his or her personal definition. It will also get you thinking about your position within the universe and time. Not many books can do that!