Product Description

Upon its publication, George Seldes's The Great Thoughts instantly took its place as a classic--a treasure house of the seminal ideas that have shaped the intellectual history of the world down through the ages. Seldes, a pivotal figure in the history of American journalism and a tireless researcher, spent the better part of his extraordinary lifetime compiling the thoughts that rule the world, casting his net widely and wisely through the essential works of philosophy, poetry, psychology, economics, politics, memoirs, and letters from the ancient Greeks to the modern Americans.

Now Seldes's splendid and important work has been revised and updated to include the great thoughts that have changed our world in the decade since the book's first appearance. Quotations from leaders as varied as Nelson Mandela, Lech Walesa, Yitzak Rabin, Newt Gingrich, and Jesse Jackson reflect the radical shifts in the world political scene. Toni Morrison and Cornel West speak out on the enduring vitality of African-American culture. Alvin Toffler and Arthur C. Clarke give us a glimpse into the future. Gloria Steinem and Monique Wittig define the motives and the goals of late twentieth-century feminism. Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, and Wallace Stegner ponder the meaning of wilderness in an increasingly populated and industrialized world. These and scores of other thinkers in all major disciplines have added their voices to this new edition of The Great Thoughts.

USA Today praised the first edition of The Great Thoughts as "a browser's delight." The work of a lifetime, brought up-to-date to reflect the global upheaval of the past decade, The Great Thoughts stands alone as an enduring achievement and an invaluable resource.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19910 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-21
• Released on: 1996-05-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

From the Inside Flap
Upon its publication, George Seldes's The Great Thoughts instantly took its place as a classic--a treasure house of the seminal ideas that have shaped the intellectual history of the world down through the ages.  Seldes, a pivotal figure in the history of American journalism and a tireless researcher, spent the better part of his extraordinary lifetime compiling the thoughts that rule the world, casting his net widely and wisely through the essential works of philosophy, poetry, psychology, economics, politics, memoirs, and letters from the ancient Greeks to the modern Americans.

Now Seldes's splendid and important work has been revised and updated to include the great thoughts that have changed our world in the decade since the book's first appearance.  Quotations from leaders as varied as Nelson Mandela, Lech Walesa, Yitzak Rabin, Newt Gingrich, and Jesse Jackson reflect the radical shifts in the world political scene.  Toni Morrison and Cornel West speak out on the enduring vitality of African-American culture.  Alvin Toffler and Arthur C. Clarke give us a glimpse into the future.  Gloria Steinem and Monique Wittig define the motives and the goals of late twentieth-century feminism.  Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, and Wallace Stegner ponder the meaning of wilderness in an increasingly populated and industrialized world.  These and scores of other thinkers in all major disciplines have added their voices to this new edition of The Great Thoughts.

USA Today praised the first edition of The Great Thoughts as "a browser's delight."  The work of a lifetime, brought up-to-date to reflect the global upheaval of the past decade, The Great Thoughts stands alone as an enduring achievement and an invaluable resource.

About the Author
George Seldes was one of the great muckraking journalists and the author of twenty books, including Witness to a Century. He began his career as a cub reporter for The Pittsburgh Leader, rose to international correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, and founded his own newspaper, dedicated to the truth.

George Seldes died at the age of 104 in July 1995.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"...for liberals, black people are to be "included" and "integrated" into "our" society and culture, while for conservatives they are to be "well behaved" and "worthy of acceptance" by "our" way of life. Both fail to see that the presence and predicaments of black people are neither additions to nor defections from American life, but rather constitutive elements of that life .
--Cornel West Race Matters

"Our society forces boys, insofar as it can, to grow up, to endure the pains of growth, to educate themselves to work, to move on. Why aren't girls forced to grow up--to achieve somehow the core of self that will end the unnecessary dilemma, the mistaken choice between femaleness and humanness that is implied in the feminine mystique?"
--Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do  language. That may be the measure of our lives."
--Toni Morrison

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have  you had?"
--Henry James, The Ambassadors

"Sex had everything to do with violence, that was true, and marriage was at once a container for the madness between men and women and a fragile hedge against it, as religion was to death, and the laws of physics to the immense quantity of utter emptiness of which the universe was made. But there was nothing at all safe about marriage. It was a doubtful enterprise, a voyage in an untested craft, across a hostile ocean, with a map that was a forgery and with no particular destination but the grave."
--Michael Chabon, "House Hunting"

Customer Reviews

A Good Compilation of The Greatest of All Thoughts.
The story behind Seldes' gathering up these quotes and ideas, malaprops and famous last words are as interesting as the quotes themselves. After a glorious career as a world renown journalist and essayist, at age 70 he began to cull the ideas that helped shape Western Civilization. That beginning was in 1960. He forwarded the finished document to the publisher in 1984. He was ninty-four at the time. And the work became one of the best selling books of it's kind ever. The editors had to step in to pare down the number of pages he had of Freud passages from 40 pages to 20. Seldes could not easily part with some of the Freud citations. Editors have a raison d'etre, afterall. Aldous Huxley forwarded the idea that civilization's grand pronouncements and great ideas could be tempered by some grand pronouncements and not so great ideas--so, along side Emerson and Mandela in Seldes work, one may find Hitler and Castro. Shakespeare and the Bible were avoided as references...far too many quotes the author has noted. Plus, there are concordances of each which can give the reader a more thorough coverage than what Seldes can offer.I have always been able to open the book up anywhere and read some thought provoking idea. That's why I enjoy it so much: it's good for the casual browser. Also, it acts as an appetite whettor to those who are exposed to, say, the 3 or 4 citations from Nietsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra and feel as if they wish to read more. My advice, overall, to those who will listen has always been--"Open your mind. Open a book and read". This volume of The Great Thoughts will help you enjoy your journey.

A FANTASTIC WORK THAT IS BOUND TO ENLIGHTEN.
I LOVE TO QUOTE OR PARAPHRASE IDEAS OF THOSE THAT HAVE INFLUENCED OUR SOCIETY. THIS COMPILATION OF WRITINGS ALLOWS THE READER TO EASILY OBTAIN PASSAGES FROM THEIR FAVORITE PHILOSOPHERS AND LEADERS. I HAVE RECOMMENDED THIS BOOK TO MANY FRIENDS AS A TOOL FOR INTRODUCING THEIR CHILDREN TO THE THOUGHTS THAT HAVE SHAPED THE WAY OUR SOCIETIES AND CULTURES EXIST.

A Debater's Perspective
The Great Thoughts was the first quote book that I used for writing cases in Lincoln Douglas debate in High School. I found that the quotations were thorough and wide-ranging. The Great Thoughts contains many useful authors from all time periods and all races. I have used quotations from Mahatma Ghandi to Plato. Another added bonus is that the book comes with longer quotations. A longer quote insures that a reader won't take a quote out of context. I've used The Great Thoughts for Debate, for school papers, and for my job as a writer at my school newspaper. I reccommend the Great Thoughts without any hesitations.