Rescuing Socrates

How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation

Rescuing Socrates
Roosevelt Montas
RRP:
NZ$ 44.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 36.89
Hardback
h216 x 140mm - 248pg
16 Nov 2021 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9780691200392
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
What is the value of a liberal education? Traditionally characterised by a rigorous engagement with the classics of Western thought and literature, this approach to education is all but extinct in American universities, replaced by flexible distribution requirements and ever-narrower academic specialisation. Many academics attack the very idea of a Western canon as chauvinistic, while the general public increasingly doubts the value of the humanities. In Rescuing Socrates, Dominican-born American academic Roosevelt Montas tells the story of how a liberal education transformed his life, and offers an intimate account of the relevance of the Great Books today, especially to members of historically marginalised communities. Montas emigrated from the Dominican Republic to Queens, New York, when he was twelve and encountered the Western classics as an undergraduate in Columbia University' s renowned Core Curriculum, one of America' s last remaining Great Books programs. The experience changed his life and determined his career-he went on to earn a PhD in English and comparative literature, serve as director of Columbia' s Center for the Core Curriculum, and start a Great Books program for low-income high school students who aspire to be the first in their families to attend college. Weaving together memoir and literary reflection, Rescuing Socrates describes how four authors - Plato, Augustine, Freud, and Gandhi - had a profound impact on Montas' s life. In doing so, the book drives home what it' s like to experience a liberal education - and why it can still remake lives.
"Rescuing Socrates is a warm, appealing narrative of how it feels to be ' thrust into a conversation' with fellow students about life' s most ' serious and unsettling questions. ' "---Martha Bayles, Wall Street Journal "[A] combination memoir and call to arms. . . . Despite those who claim that these are merely works by dead, possibly irrelevant white men, Montas argues that the Great Books approach has a fundamentally democratizing impulse. "---John McWhorter, New York Times "Thanks to Montas . . . Socrates had a good 2021. "---George F. Will, Washington Post "That' s why the perspective of Roosevelt Montas, author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation, is so badly needed. . . . In this part memoir, part call to action, Montas argues that reading great literature and philosophy can make working-class people' s lives more meaningful and that everyone should have the opportunity to read great books. "---Liza Featherstone, Jacobin "[An] insightful work. . . . Few colleges and universities still require study of Great Books as part of their curricula, but Monta s makes a compelling case for the life-changing results of such pedagogy; he notes how, as an e migre from the Dominican Republic, he benefited from the breadth and depth of these approaches. " * Library Journal * "By taking us through his reading and rereading of books over the course of a life, Montas can articulate what is rarely articulated well about great books education. "---Jonathan Marks, Washington Examiner "A heartbreakingly honest immigrant tale of displacement, loss, wrenching readjustment and self-discovery, this book also offers a gripping account of how participation in the great conversation over justice, ethics, citizenship and the nature of the good life can subvert hierarchies of privilege, redeem lost souls, open minds and transform lives. "---Steve Mintz, Inside Higher Ed "Rescuing Socrates, Roosevelt Montas' s memoir-cum-paean to the classics, is a timely and much-needed book. . . . If administrators and education advocates take the message of Rescuing Socrates to heart, then our students, our schools, and our nation might yet see a brighter future. "---Matthew Levey, City Journal
Roosevelt Montas is senior lecturer at Columbia University' s Center for American Studies and director of its Freedom and Citizenship Program, which introduces low-income high school students to the Western political tradition through the study of foundational texts. From 2008 to 2018, he was director of Columbia' s Center for the Core Curriculum. He lives in New York City. Twitter @rooseveltmontas
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780691200392
Published: 16 Nov 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 216mm
Width: 140mm
Pages: 248

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information