The Wall Street Journal revisits Encyclopaedia Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World.

The Great Books were marketed door-to-door through the 1960s with the message that anyone could become well-read. “The ability to discuss and clarify basic ideas is vital to access. Doors open to the man who possesses this talent,” read one advertisement. Another said, “Great Books alone can’t make you a vice-president. Or chairman of the board. But they can stimulate your mind, and sharpen your judgment.”