A GREAT IDEA AT THE TIME The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books ALEX BEAM

"[Beam] wanted his informal history of the Great Books movement in America….to be ‘brief, engaging, and undidactic…as different from the ponderous and forbidding Great Books as it could possibly be' – and so it is."
--The Wall Street Journal

"What if all you needed to know could be gleaned from a select number of books? That was the idea behind the Great Books of the Western World project launched in 1952 by the University of Chicago and the Encyclopedia Britannica. No mind that you'd attempted Aeschylus in a freshman seminar and found it musty. All it needed was a snazzy binding and poof -- education for the masses. Or at least something to fill up those capacious bookshelves in the den. Alex Beam's A Great Idea at the Time (PublicAffairs) looks at the postwar fascination with the Great Books, evoking a moment when pop culture and education merged."
-Los Angeles Times

"A breezy and lucid account [of the Great Books enterprise]….Beam's excellent book is about much more than a passing fad; it's a pity primer to one of the most important debates in educational history."
–Marjorie Kehe, Christian Science Monitor

"Witty and useful…Probing one small chapter of our intellectual history, "A Great Idea" ends up making a modest claim: The legacy of the Great Books, which captured a certain zeitgeist, is that the life of the mind still matters. Not a radical idea, just a great one."
–Ellen Emry Heltzel, Seattle Times

"An intriguing look at the marketing phenomenon and cultural-icon status of the Great Books….Beam's book will have readers looking at volumes in the series from a whole new perspective."
-Library Journal

"Beam skillfully animates the lives of the academics involved in the venture and provides a brutally funny account of the editorial decisions about which authors to include."
--The New Yorker

"A witty look at the publishing program that aimed to bring high culture to the masses…or at least the aspiring middle class."
-Kirkus, STARRED review

"By lauding the intent and intelligently critiquing the outcome, Beam offers an insightful, accessible and fair narrative on the Great Books, its time, and its surprisingly significant legacy."
-publishersweekly.com

"…a good guide to the rise and fall of the [Great Books] project."
-James Campbell, New York Times Book Review

"Beam has a light, journalistic touch – he ends up having a pretty good time, and relishes the kind of discussions he hasn't had since college."
Peter Terzian, Newsday

"Witty and useful…Probing one small chapter of our intellectual history, "A Great Idea" ends up making a modest claim: The legacy of the Great Books, which captured a certain zeitgeist, is that the life of the mind still matters. Not a radical idea, just a great one."
–Ellen Emry Heltzel, Seattle Times

"A smart, engaging new book."
–Kevin Carey, Washington Monthly

"The author makes sure readers will have a fine time with his witty, thoroughly enjoyable text that cogently explores the mystery of how the publisher managed to get one million sets priced at several hundred dollars into the homes of Americans who probably were unaware they yearned to read Aristotle and Saint Augustine.....Beam's post-mortem evinces considerable affection for the Great Books ideal."
-Chicago Tribune

"...Beam tells the story behind this crazy idea of merchandising the classics to the masses with aplomb and no small amount of tongue in cheek. His lively descriptions of the men involved in this pompous idea -- University of Chicago President Robert Maynard Hutchins ("The Golden Boy"), his sidekick Mortimer J. Adler ("The Talmud Terrier") and William Benton, the pioneer of the cue cards ("Applause!) -- put human faces on this absurd endeavor...."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

"Marvelously entertaining"
-Britannica Blog,

"I see it as a poignant story, that is, and few if any authors could have told it better, or with more bemused skepticism and deep human understanding, than Beam. I see it as a story of ambition and longing and hope."
–Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune