Margaret Mead, Warfare: An Invention—Not a Biological Necessity
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The United States enters World War II
George Orwell, Pacifism and the War
World War II ends with the United States dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. United Nations founded Cold War begins with Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech State of Israel founded
Mao Zedong's Communists push the Nationalist forces off mainland China and establish the People's Republic of China • Apartheid instituted in South Africa
Octavio Paz, The Day of the Dead
Korean War involves North and South Korea, the United Nations, and China
Revolution in Egypt, which becomes a republic in 1953
Independence for Belgian Congo, Uganda, Tanganyika, Nigeria
Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space
United States engaged in Vietnam War
Rachel Carson, The Obligation to Endure
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
Wayne Booth, The Rhetorical Stance
Karl Popper, Science as Falsification
Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution attacks Confucian tradition and intellectuals in China
Neil Armstrong becomes first human on the moon
Barry Commoner, The Four Laws of Ecology
Arab oil producers cut off shipments to nations supporting Israel. Ensuing energy crisis reshapes global economy
Garrett Hardin, Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor
Alice Walker, Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self Richard Feynman, O Americano Outra Vez Gloria Anzaldua, How to Tame a Wild Tongue
Aung San Suu Kyi, In Quest of Democracy • East and West Germany united Soviet Union dissolved
Toni Morrison, Nobel Lecture • World Wide Web established
1940
1941
1942
1945
1946
1948
1949
1950
1950
1952
1960
1961
1962
1962
1963
1966
1969
1971
1973
1974
1983
1985
1987
1990
1991
1993
1994
Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa after first multiracial elections there
Timeline 1997 TO 2013
Desmond Tutu, Nuremberg or National Amnesia: A Third Way
Edward O. Wilson, The Fitness of Human Nature
Marevasei Kachere, War Memoir
Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just
2001 Islamists fly jets into the United States Pentagon and the World
Trade Center
2003 United States invades Iraq
Lisa Yuskavage, Babie I
Women of World War II Monument
Wangari Maathai, Foresters without Diplomas
Brain Scan
Vandana Shiva, Soil, Not Oil
Barack Obama, A More Perfect Union
Martha Nussbaum, Education for Profit, Education for Democracy
Nicholas Carr, A Thing Like Me
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Lecture
Joseph Stiglitz, Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society
xxvi
Zeynep Tufekci, Networked Politics from Tahrir to Taksim
Pronunciation Guide
PHONETIC KEY
a as in cat ah as in father ai as in light ay as in day
aw as in raw
e as in pet
ee as in street
ehr as in air
er as in bird
eu as in lurk g as in good i as in sit
j as in joke nh a nasal sound
o as in pot oh as in no
oo as in boot
oy as in toy
or as in bore
ow as in now
s as in mess
u as in p u t uh as in us
zh as in vision
NAMES, TERMS, AND TITLES
Abraham Bosse ah-brahm' bahs'-uh
Aeschylus esh'-kuh-luhs
Anzaldua ahn-zuhl-doo'-uh
Aung San Suu Kyi owng sahn soo chee
Boethius boh-ee'-thee-uhs
Carl Jung kahrl yung
Christine de Pizan kris-teen' day pee-zanh' Daniel Kahneman dan'-yel khan'-i-min Epictetus eh-pic-tay'-tus Erasmus eh-raz'-muz
Eugene Delacroix eu-zhen' duh-lah-krwah' Feynman fain'-mun
xxviii Pronunciation Guide
Hsun Tzu shinh tsuh
Johannes Vermeer yoh-hahn'-uhs ver-meer' Lao Tzu low tsuh
Laurentius de Voltolina lahr-en'-ti-uhs day vohl-tow-leen'-uh Marevasei Kachere mahr-e-vah-sai' kuh-cher'-ai Matsuo Basho maht-soo-oh bah-shoh Mencius men'-chee-oos Mo Tzu mor tsuh
Murasaki Shikibu mu-ruh-saw'-kee shi-kee'-boo Octavio Paz ohk-tahv-'ee-oh pahz Pericles pehr'-uh-klees Po-Chu-I bo-choo-ee'
Rabindranath Tagore ra-bin'-dra-nahth tah-gor' Seneca sen'-ah-kah Simone Weil see-mohn' vyle
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz sor wahnah een-nez day lah krooz Sun Tzu shunh tsuh
Tawakkol Karman ta-wah-kohl kahr-mahn' Vandana Shiva van'-dah-nah shee'-vuh Wangari Maathai wawn-gah-ree mah-tai Yuskavage you-skah/-vidge Zeynep Tufekci zay'-nef too-fetch'-ee
PART 1
READING
THE WORLD
PART 1
READING
THE WORLD
o
EDUCATION
What Does It Mean to Be an Educated Person?
Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward.
—John Henry Newman
In 1854, the great English scholar and Catholic convert, John Henry Newman, was appointed the rector of the newly created Catholic University of Ireland. In this capacity, Newman delivered a series of lectures about the nature and purpose of higher education. In 1858, these lectures were published together as The Idea of a University—which became one of the nineteenth century's most influential books on the purpose of education. Newman argued that education had to do more than just prepare people for different careers—it had to teach a body of knowledge and set of skills that, while not immediately applicable to any kind of work, were vital to the growth and development of a human being. Knowledge, he believed, was capable of being its own reward.