New and Recent Titles

The Foundation publishes a wide range of anthologies of classic and modern works of prose, poetry, and drama, especially selected for Shared Inquiry™ discussion, with discussion questions. Click for more information on using these anthologies for higher education.

Taking Action
Taking Action, created by the editor of The Civically Engaged Reader, features more than 60 short, provocative essays, stories, and poems ideal for discussion groups and staff development programs in a wide range of community-oriented organizations.

The Vital Ideas Series
These compact, topical anthologies—Sex, Money, Crime, and Work—will generate exciting and rewarding discussions for college courses in reading and composition as well as book groups of all kinds. 

The Great Books Foundation Science Fiction Omnibus 
This anthology showcases some of the greatest masters of the genre. Eighteen imaginative stories that will stand the test of time.

Citizens of the World: Readings in Human Rights, EXPANDED EDITION
This expanded edition of Citizens of the World is a comprehensive anthology for readers interested in how the idea of human rights has developed throughout history.

Even Deadlier and The Seven Deadly Sins Sampler
Pride. Envy. Anger. Sloth. Greed. Gluttony. Lust. In Even Deadlier, there are fourteen MORE short story masterpieces selected for discussion and reflection. Sequel to The Seven Deadly Sins Sampler.

Plan of Chicago: Centennial Edition
A full-sized, four-color replica edition of legendary urban designer Daniel Burnham's groundbreaking vision for Chicago. Available in paperback and limited-edition cloth.

The Great Books Foundation Short Story Omnibus
Rethink the short story. The first volume of the Omnibus Series contains 39 selected readings, including short stories, sudden fiction, novellas, and graphic fiction.

Great Conversations series
Titles in this popular series contain fifteen selections ideal for Great Books discussion groups and college courses. Also included in each volume are discussion guides for two novels as well as a thematic guide for reading selections across genres and disciplines. Newest volume: Great Conversations 5

The Civically Engaged Reader and Other Related Titles
These anthologies contain provocative selections for book groups, classrooms, and service learning programs.

Other Titles

Modern American Poetry
This 528-page collection contains works by more than 40 American poets from the mid-1800s to the present.

A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books
Alex Beam explores the Great Books mania in an entertaining and strangely poignant portrait of American popular culture on the threshold of the television age.

The Will of the People: Readings in American Democracy
This accessble collection brings together some of the most important texts in the history of American democracy, with 14 selections reflecting the essence of American democratic ideals.

How to Think About the Great Ideas
This collection of edited transcripts of Mortimer Adler's groundbreaking 1954 television series examines 22 ideas that have shaped the Western tradition in literature and philosophy, ideas such as beauty, truth, art, love, good and evil, education, democracy, and the rule of law.

How to Read a Book
Mortimer Adler's classic guide to the art of reading.

Other Series

Science Series
The natural sciences the Great Books way, in the words of the scientists themselves. Newest title: What's the Matter? Readings in Physics: 31 selections from scientists whose work has formed our understanding of the universe.

50th Anniversary Series
Each anthology in this international collection of literature, philosophy, and poetry focuses on a theme of universal significance; the nine volumes bring together works by classic and modern authors, including James Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Euripides, Gustaw Herling, Jamaica Kincaid, Yukio Mishima, Friedrich Nietzsche, Marcel Proust, and Adrienne Rich. The questions provided for each selection will help book groups initiate strong discussions and maintain a flow of ideas. Each paperback volume also features discussion questions for two novels that are readily available for purchase online or from your local bookseller.
 

Great Books Reading and Discussion Series
 Representing some of the most influential and profound thinking of the Western world, these five series includes substantial works of literature and philosophy by such authors as Dostoevsky, Freud, Kafka, Plato, and Shakespeare. 

Introduction to Great Books
These three series include shorter selections by many of the same authors featured in the Great Books Reading and Discussion Series. This collection is ideal for new book groups that want to focus on classic works of fiction and nonfiction.
 
 Readers' Guide to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
 Readers' Guide to The Scarlet Letter
 Indispensable resources for teachers and serious readers of classic texts, including critical background readings for each work, discussion questions, and related historical and literary documents. 
 

The Foundation also publishes free online discussion guides for selected classic and contemporary titles offered by Penguin Books.