Episode 45: Roosevelt Montas on Great Books and Intellectual Transformation

In this episode, I am joined by Professor Roosevelt Montas to discuss his new book Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation. Montas, a Dominican born American academic, makes the compelling case that study of the Great Books is potentially transformative, especially for students from working class communities or who are members of historically marginalized communities. Montas further argues that the future of the Humanities in this country does not lay primarily in specialized research but in undergraduate education--particularly in general undergrad education. We talk about arguments that Great Books courses are racist, sexist, or otherwise somehow oppressive, and why we think they are dead wrong. This episode is especially close to my heart and I hope you enjoy our conversation. Buy Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation here: Rescuing Socrates | Princeton University Press