The Western canon: the body of literature and art which is considered to define Western civilization by widespread consensus. These were the works with which an educated person was expected to be familiar. Increasingly after ca. 1970 the idea that any such canon might exist came under attack and was stigmatized as elitist and academic. Those who defended a canon pointed out that the elite canon was generally available to all and was therefore not elitist, and that the word "academic" was merely negative code for "educated."
The Core 102 Canon, 2013 - 2014
Greetings, Students in Core 102
Welcome to our course: History and the Modern World: The Idea of Democracy. In our "Modern" world, perhaps nothing is more modern than the communications revolution brought about by computers and the Internet. Core 102 now joins this revolution by publishing the required readings in a brand new format. Previously, students purchased a book of readings, The Democratic Idea, and read selections from it as assigned by the faculty in charge of their particular section. Now the readings in the core canon have been expanded, and we're providing them for you in electronic form. Some teachers will be using bridges to distribute the readings to you. Others will direct you to this web page, from which you can download the materials you need. These documents are prepared in Portable Document Format, or pdf. These documents can be read and printed using the program called Adobe Acrobat. Most computers come with Acrobat pre-installed. If your computer doesn't have it, it can be downloaded free by clicking here. The Table of contents below is in Chronological Order. Click on the titles your professor assigns to download and read the files inquestion.
I want to thank those who helped with this project: Josh Stein, Jeffrey Meriwether, Debbie Mulligan, and June Speakman, Laura D'Amore, Autumn Quesada-Grant, Joseph Roberts, and Jennifer Campbell.
on behalf of the Core 102 Faculty
p.s. We would like to collect feedback on the documents. It will be useful for all of us in terms of future planning. Consequently, we've provided a guest book for you, in which you can record your thoughts about the format of the documents and about any given document itself. Drop by from time to time and leave us a message. You are free to post anonymously, but remember to practice Civil Discourse. I reserve the right to remove comments which are inappropriate.
Mike Swanson
Table of Contents
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941
Farewell Address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961
Appendix I
Documents added 2005 - 2007
Baron de Montesquieu (1752)
Appendix II
Documents added , 2008-2009
- K3. Exodus 22 (Three Translations Version)
Appendix III
Documents added, 2009 - 2011
Fourth U. S. Edition. Gene Sharp, the Albert Einstein Institution
Simon Bolivar, 1815
Frederick Douglass, July 4, 1852
Jefferson Davis, 1863
Ed Cony, Wall St. Journal, April 22, 1959
Che Guevara, Speech Given April 19, 1961
and Development, March 25, 1964 Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Appendix IV
Documents added, January 2012--2016
with Amendments in her own hand (facsimile),
The prize was awarded in 1991-while she was under house arrest
- S52A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Chapter IX