Riches for the Poor: The Clemente Course in the Humanities

by Earl Shorris

Book Overview

Rich people learn the humanities; you didn't. . . . It is generally accepted in America that the liberal arts and humanities in particular belong to the elite. I think you're the elite. In this groundbreaking work, Shorris examines the nature of poverty in America today. Why are people poor, and why do they stay poor? Shorris argues that they lack politics, or the ability to participate fully in the public world; knowing only the immediacy and oppression...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393320669
• ISBN13: 9780393320664
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

It is a great argument the one proposed

what a great book I have just read. it wanders across the problem of poverty in the capitalist empire. it uses true examples for consolidating his argument and explains the alternative solution to this problem that seems a problem more from people of all classes rather than the "underclass". it produced some sparks on the eagerness to learn more humanities and escape from the "surround of force" which most of us are influenced with. I have really loved this book a lot and I hope some more can have the same experience i had in this eye-opener proposal that explicitly is aimed at the poor class, but affects the whole society.

Exciting Approach to Education

"Riches for the Poor" describes the development and application of the Clemente Course of Humanities, a rigorous survey of the humanities that includes political philosophy and diplomatics. Shorris sees the humanities, increasingly removed from public school curricula, as tools for disenfranchised students to become fully engaged citizens participating in democratic society. Now that this book has been out for several years, time has proven Shorris' theories, as new Clemente courses sprouted up in the United States and abroad. They have particularly taken root in indigenous communities where Western perspectives are studied in tandem with indigenous humanities and languages. Students have been inspired by Clemente courses to go back to college or enter college for the very first time. A good read about a promising movement in education.