Charles A. Murray

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Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950

Charles A. Murray

Synopsis:

From the age of Homer to the present, bestselling author Charles Murray compiles inventories of the people who have been essential to the stories of literature, music, art, philosophy, and the sciences -- a total of 4,002 men and women from around the world, ranked according to their eminence.

The heart of Human Accomplishment is a series of enthralling descriptive chapters: on the giants in the arts and what sets them apart from the merely great; on the differences between great achievement in the arts and in the sciences; on the meta-inventions, 14 crucial leaps in human capacity to create great art and science; and on the patterns and trajectories of accomplishment across time and geography.

In addition, Charles Murray takes on some controversial questions: Why has accomplishment been so concentrated in Europe? Among men? Since 1400? He presents evidence that the rate of great accomplishment has been declining in the last century, asks what it means, and offers a rich framework for thinking about the conditions under which the human spirit has expressed itself most gloriously.

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Other editions: Softcover - 2009, Hardcover - 2003, 1999, 1997, 1996, Softcover - 1994, Hardcover - 1988, Softcover - 1979, 1979, 1977