JOY OF READING, CHARLES VAN DOREN

This is an enormously readable, critical description of the classic works and their authors, from Homer and Dante to Solzhenitsyn and Salinger, written by the former editor of The Encyclopedia Britannica, The Annals of America (20 Volumes), and The History of Knowledge. The book consists of 15 chapters organized chronologically, from the Golden Age that includes Aristotle and Heroditus to only yesterday, with descriptions of great works by Orwell and Heinlen. Van Doren will begin each chapter with a short introduction about the period, placing the works within that period’s history, and the influence that history had on later books and times. The Joy of Reading contains insightful descriptions, analysis, and comments about a wide range of genres – fiction, poetry, drama, children’s books, philosophy, history, science, and reference books.