| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
xiv, 249 pages ; 22 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [247]-249). |
| Contents |
Preface: Dear Violet -- 1. What Do I Know? Plato, Apology -- 2. When Is It Right To Do The Wrong Thing? Plato, Crito -- 3. Have We Become Gods? Aristophanes, The Clouds -- 4. Is There Any Justice In The World? Plato, Republic -- 5. What Is The Happiness? Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I -- 6. Is The Customer King? Aristotle, Politics, Book I -- 7. Who Should Be In Charge? Plutarch, The Life of Lycurgus -- 8. The State As Church Plutarch, The Life of Numa Pompilius -- 9. Punch The Bully In The Face Plutarch, The Life of Alexander -- 10. Hubris Plutarch, The Life of Julius Caesar -- 11. What Would Jesus Do? St. Matthew, The Gospel of Jesus Christ -- 12. Can People Change? St. Luke, The Acts of the Apostles -- 13. How Can God Let Bad Things Happen? St. Augustine, The Confessions -- 14. Do The Ends Justify The Means? Machiavelli, The Prince -- 15. What's Your Major? Montaigne, Of the Education of Children -- 16. Is America Exceptional? Montaigne, Of Cannibals -- 17. What Am I Afraid? Montaigne, That the Relish of Good and Evil Depends in Great Measure Upon the Opinion We Have of Them -- 18. What Don't I Know? Montaigne, That It Is Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity -- 19. What If Life Is Meaningless? William Shakespeare, Hamlet -- 20. What Is Government For? John Locke, Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government -- 21. What's Best For Everyone? Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract -- 22. Are Gods Immortal? Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapters 15-16 -- 23. What Are "American Values"? Various, including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, The Declaration of Independence -- 24. Your Rights* *Subject To Change At Any Time. Various, The Constitution of the United States -- 25. Is Greed Good? Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations -- 26. Does Capitalism Work? Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party -- Bibliography -- About The Author. |
| Summary |
"Dead White Guys is a timely defense of the great books, arriving in the middle of a national debate about the fate of these books in high schools and universities around the country. Burriesci shows how the great books can enrich our lives as individuals, as citizens, and in our careers. Extending the argument first made by Anna Quinndlen's on the act of reading itself, How Reading Changed My Life," ("It is like the rubbing of two sticks together to make a fire, the act of reading, an improbable pedestrian task that leads to heat and light,) Burriesci reminds us all of the enormous impact reading has on our lives,"--Amazon.com. |
| Subject |
Burriesci, Matt, 1974- -- Books and reading.
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Great books of the Western world.
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Books and reading.
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| ISBN |
9781632280176 (paperback) |
|
1632280175 (paperback) |
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