The Humanities: Culture, Continuity, and Change,
Volume 1
by Henry M. Sayre
The Humanities
by Henry Sayre
www.prenhall.com/thehumanities
This is my friend's new project, The Humanities: Culture, Continuity & Change, just out through Prentice Hall
Publishing. It is an innovative work, more than just a book, insynch with today's internet world of fast-paced
personally assimilated knowledge. The book comes as either two volumes, or the sections can be bought
individually by topic. How many times have we been in classes that required us to purchase a book that only
required us to read a couple of chapters from? What a waste!! Henry allows teachers and students the option to
purchase only what they need. This not only saves students from buying unnecessary material but also allows
those on a limited budget who need to purchase the whole two volumes, to break it down and buy a little at a
time. What an invention! It makes you wonder why no one thought of this before now? It makes so much sense!
Henry, together with Prentice Hall, have the daring idea to think first of what will best facilitate learning, rather
than making the dollar sign the priority. This project is a result of their concern to present solutions to obstacles in
education, and to try new things in order to make learning easier-- which means making it less expensive!
Henry has an absolutely amazing gift to present history in a precise and intimate format, easy to process and
remember. His research abilities as a historian and teacher for 30+ years, with a PhD. in literature, an author of
several seminal books (Such as The Object of Performance) which function as critical overviews and tools for the
classroom, have made him an important lecturer and art historian of our time. He writes from a heart impassioned
with a lifelong love for the arts and for teaching the arts. His record proves him to be one of the rare scholars who
avoids both the arrogance of verbose ambiguities as well as condescending presumptions of exclusiveness that so
with a lifelong love for the arts and for teaching the arts. His record proves him to be one of the rare scholars who
avoids both the arrogance of verbose ambiguities as well as condescending presumptions of exclusiveness that so
many write with today. He practices what he preaches, as he is weekly in the classroom living out the passion he
believes in. And that passion is this: that art is important for everyone, to enrich our lives and develop us as human
beings. He has been an active supporter of the early careers of such artists as Carolee Schneeman, Eleanor Antin,
David Antin, Christo, Goat Island, Laurie Anderson, Bill Viola, and thousands of unnamed students across the
globe, including myself. He continues to play an active role in his local community as a professor, lecturer, and
supporter of the arts. It is always a source of hope in this world, where the arts continue to struggle to survive,
when we bump into a person as genuine and as giving as Henry Sayre.
Consider this book to learn more about the humanities. I'm sure you will not be disappointed in what it has to
offer: its flexibility, the ton of available accurate information it offers, its detailed organization of tools and
references, and itself as a body of work developed with the special attention an artist gives to a masterpiece. Every
detail has been attended to with loving concern to facilitate the reader's easy access to the information it holds.
View the video of Henry speaking about it in his own words (much better than mine!). Thanks for letting me do a
little advertising for my friend here. Now---go visit his site and let him know you did so. He deserves a round of
applause for all the work that went into this project.
Thanks!
|Textbook for school, informative, thought provoking and interesting content that allowed for a lot of interesting
classroom discussions.