Montclair State University Humanities Discussion

Read “Melancholy in the Midst of Abundance” and listen to my commentary. Geoffrey Galt Harpham, the author of this chapter, makes the somewhat surprising claim that America “invented” the Humanities. Explain what he means by describing in a paragraph (minimum 150 words, excluding quotation) (1) what Thomas Jefferson and John Adams’ attitude toward the Humanities was, and (2) how and why Humanities as part of “general education” became so important in this country immediately following World War II, leading, among other things, to the expansion of the community colleges network (see especially pp. 153-63). AS PART OF YOUR RESPONSE YOU MUST INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE RELEVANT QUOTATION (INSIDE QUOTES) FROM THE READING, CITING PAGE NUMBER.