Fifty Worst (and Best) Books of The Century
ISI published in 1999 a list of the fifty books that they consider the worst and the fifty that they consider the best, among the nonfiction books of the 20th century originally published in English. ISI defined the "worst" books as those that were "...widely celebrated in their day," but on reflection are "...foolish, wrong-headed, or even pernicious." The list of worst books has several books in common with the list of harmful books published by the conservative magazine Human Events.
The top five "very worst":
- Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928)
- Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1935)
- Alfred Kinsey, et al., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948)
- Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (1964)
- John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
ISI defined "best" as "volumes of extraordinary reflection and creativity in a traditional form, which heartens us with the knowledge that fine writing and clear-mindedness are perennially possible."
The top five "very best":
- Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1907)
- C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (1947)
- Whittaker Chambers, Witness (1952)
- T. S. Eliot, Selected Essays, 1917-1932 (1932, 1950)
- Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History (1934-1961)
Read more about this topic: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Famous quotes containing the words fifty, worst, books and/or century:
“I asked my mother for fifty cents
To see the elephant jump the fence.
He jumped so high he reached the sky,
And didn’t get back till the Fourth of July.”
—Unknown. I Asked My Mother (l. 1–4)
“The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and servitude. Peace is freedom in tranquility, servitude is the worst of all evils, to be resisted not only by war, but even by death.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Indeed, the best books have a use, like sticks and stones, which is above or beside their design, not anticipated in the preface, not concluded in the appendix. Even Virgil’s poetry serves a very different use to me today from what it did to his contemporaries. It has often an acquired and accidental value merely, proving that man is still man in the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
““The Love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect.... It is in this century misunderstood ... and on account of it I am placed where I am now.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)