E. D. Hirsch, Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil, "The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know"
2002 | ISBN: 0618226478, 0965766438 | 672 pages | PDF | 14,1 MB
From Publishers Weekly
This third edition of the 1988 reference, full of the same back-to-basics philosophy of the earlier volumes, promises to once again serve as a lightning rod for lively discussion. Divided into chapters such as "The Bible" (the editors point out that, regardless of one's religion, it is impossible to be culturally literate without some Biblical knowledge, just as one needs to know the Koran to be literate in Arab culture), "Technology," "Idioms," "World Geography," "Mythology and Folklore" (which includes everything from Medusa to Mickey Mouse) and "Literature in English," the book is a compendium of thumbnail definitions of the bedrock items that make up society.