Describes great discoveries from Euclid's geometry to Einstein's theory of relativity and explains why each accomplishment was important.

Bibliographical Notes And Descriptions Of 1,000 Rare Books And Manuscripts, Forming A Part Of The Mitchell M. Kaplan Collection, Presented To New York University Jewish Culture Foundation. Illustrated With Reproductions Of 300 Title Pages.

Downs uses great books to write the cultural history of society. His thesis is that the economic, social, and political behavior of a region, a nation, or even the world is shaped largely by the printed word. Concentrating on twenty-five publications from John Smith's "General History of Virginia" (1624) to C, Vann Woodward's "Origins of the New South" (1951), he analyzes the impact of written history and sociology on the intellectual and social life of the South.
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