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Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life cover art

Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life

By: Rufus J. Fears, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Rufus J. Fears
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Publisher's Summary

Why do "Great Books" continue to speak to us hundreds and even thousands of years after they were written? Can they deepen our self-knowledge and wisdom? Are our lives changed in any meaningful way by the experience of reading them?

Tackle these questions and more in these 36 engaging lectures. Beginning with his definition of a Great Book as one that possesses a great theme of enduring importance, noble language that "elevates the soul and ennobles the mind," and a universality that enables it to "speak across the ages," Professor Fears examines a body of work that offers extraordinary wisdom to those willing to receive it.

You'll study dozens of works, from the Aeneid and the book of Job to Othello and 1984 - works that range in time from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the 20th century, and in locale from Mesopotamia and China to Europe and America. Professor Fears approaches each of these works from an entirely different direction, considering philosophical and moral perspectives that superbly complement a purely literary understanding.Grasping these philosophical and moral perspectives is crucial to the education of every thoughtful person. These works that have shaped the minds of great individuals, who, in turn, have shaped events of historic magnitude. You'll study the underlying ideas of each great work to see how these ideas can be put to use in a moral and ethical life."History is our sense of the past," Professor Fears says. "And these Great Books are our links to the great ideas of the past. They educate us to live our lives in a free and responsible way."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2005 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2005 The Great Courses

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Enlightening, engaging, endearing, entertaining...

Dr. Fears shares a lifetime of study and consideration over how great books have spoken about timeless themes for humanity.

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3 people found this helpful

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Worth the Investment

At first I didn’t really warm to Rufus but over the centuries of books his opinions became more insightful and his takeaways more valuable. These books are foundational to western thought and Rufus pinpoints important insights these books uncovered and even how they continued to influence thought throughout time. How different books introduced concepts and values we take for granted is a powerful lesson. The Greeks first proposing the immortality of the soul. The evolution of governing systems. The evolution of ethics and morality, bitter lessons from histories monsters, the motivations of histories heroes. Every book covered is valuable for some reason and as a whole the course is very worthwhile.

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1 person found this helpful

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Really great and worth a listen

Wasn’t expecting too much to start with but Rufus made the books come to life and I was sad when the course ended - learnt heaps. Really enjoyed

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Personally I love this guy.

This would be a splendid way to start on the great literature. For some reason the stuff about each author, their times and bio, really helps when approaching their work.

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Secret Message?

Strange how Rufus’ description of Stalin’s gulags mirrors the stories of Guantanamo Bay and his portrayal of the MGB ‘arrests’ so closely aligns with the ‘extra judicial renditions’ under Bush. This parallel seems to continue through out the lectures.
Is Rufus giving us a critical review of modern US policy under the guise of criticising historical regimes?

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Highly recommended!

Rufus is a great story teller, the way he tell about each books & authors, makes you so interested in each one of them, as soon as a chapter finishes I research more about it, definitely worth a listen!

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"I believe"

...is not a phrase I want to hear over and over and over in secular education.

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