The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910 [Paperback]

Caroline Winterer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2004

Debates continue to rage over whether American university students should be required to master a common core of knowledge. In The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780–1910, Caroline Winterer traces the emergence of the classical model that became standard in the American curriculum in the nineteenth century and now lies at the core of contemporary controversies. By closely examining university curricula and the writings of classical scholars, Winterer demonstrates how classics was transformed from a narrow, language-based subject to a broader study of civilization, persuasively arguing that we cannot understand both the rise of the American university and modern notions of selfhood and knowledge without an appreciation for the role of classicism in their creation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A conscientious and important history of the study of classicism in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries... Ms. Winterer sheds light on the virtual disappearance of the ancients from the modern imagination.

(Rochelle Gurstein Wall Street Journal 2003)

This book makes, in particular, two significant contributions to the field: it expands the scope of inquiry beyond the opening decades of the nation's history, where scholarly interest has tended to concentrate; and it shifts the focus from what has become familiar (the classicism of the founding fathers and the influence of nineteenth-century German scholarship) to what is less well-known... Winterer's prose moves swiftly and with punch, and she displays an easy familiarity with her subject matter.

(Matthew M. McGowan Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006)

Richly informative yet concise and lucid, this book is filled with interesting insight... It is, without question, one of the greatest contributions to [the field of classics in nineteenth-century America] yet published.

(Carl J. Richard American Historical Review )

The first full and sympathetic account of the changing role of classical education in pre–World War I America... The story told is, on the whole, one of gradual if heroically resisted extinction.

(Thomas L. Pangle Journal of American History )

Worthwhile reading not only for those interested in the history of the classics in American education, but also for anyone interested in the changes wrought in American education between the American Revolution and the twentieth century.

(Joseph Casazza New England Classical Journal )

This clearly-written and perceptive book provides the first general survey of the role of classics in the USA in the nineteenth century.

(Christopher Stray Mouseion: Journal of Classical Association of Canada )

An intelligent book about an important period.

(Karl Galinsky Libraries & the Cultural Record )

From the Publisher

"Caroline Winterer's book shows that the American colleges of the nineteenth century harbored a lively, if limited, intellectual life. Her precise and ingenious research reveals that the classical tradition was alive and well in the dusty classrooms and ornate auditoriums where students read texts, studied history, and acted in Greek and Latin plays. Winterer recreates this lost world in three dimensions and full color. The Culture of Classicism has much to offer classicists and literary scholars as well as historians of American culture and education."—Anthony Grafton, Princeton University

"This is a fully researched, clearly written, and eminently valuable contribution to the fields of American intellectual history, the history of American higher education, and the history of classical scholarship."—Ward W. Briggs Jr., University of South Carolina --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (March 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801878896
• ISBN-13: 978-0801878893
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the Founding Fathers learned to forge a nation, January 27, 2009

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This review is from: The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910 (Paperback)

Caroline Winterer writes that the college-educated colonists received a heavy dose of the Greek and Roman classics. This classical education would make it easy for them to assimilate into their own character the virtues embodied in Cato the Younger. Many of these men, such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, and others, would quote from the play in many of their writings and speeches. Winterer asserts that in the years leading up to the American Revolution, and especially after the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, the play "Cato" served as the epitome of resistance to tyrannical British rule for many colonists.

It is indicative of the Age of Enlightenment, which educated leaders such as America's Founding Fathers, to select their models of heroic virtue from Greco-Roman history instead of from the Bible. Plays, such as Addison's "Cato" social and philosophical message was clear to any Enlightenment audience because it was Roman moral virtues and not Christian morality that Enlightenment audiences most embraced. Cato's self-reliance caused his actions; not his reliance on God. This notion of men acting outside the sphere of religious bonds was an important lesson that was certainly not lost on our Founders, especially since many of them were such devoted disciples to Enlightenment ideals. In fact, one could stipulate that "Cato" is part of a genre of plays that replaced the Christian morality plays that had been so popular for centuries in Europe.

The revolutionary generation immersed themselves in the classics, which enabled them to be on the look out for examples of distant tyrannical rule. The Founding Fathers believed that in order for a new nation to survive as a republic, they would need to remake men in the mold of Cato as portrayed in Addison's play, and as other heroic men found in "Plutarch's Lives." Cato was first and foremost a patriot. He would not have sullied himself by becoming embroiled in party politics. Thus, the Founders learned from his example and understood that they too had to be especially diligent in guarding against men forming political factions and the misuse of political power for their own self-interest. This is why Founders, such as Thomas Jefferson, placed such high hopes for raising a virtuous body of citizens through education, which became one of his motivating factors for founding the University of Virginia. Aside from Addison's flowery prose and powerful imagery on stage, "Cato's" most important and enduring role in the American colonies was its political message; fighting to the death, if necessary, for freedom from tyranny.


I read this book for a graduate Humanities class. Recommended for people interested in literature, history, philosophy, and the founding of America.