Adler first came into contact with the great books idea whenhe took John Erskine’s General Honors course at Columbia Universityin 1920.

It is Woodberry who bringsus to Columbia University and John Erskine.27

Those larger goals highlighted edu-cation for good citizenship; to them great books were more of anantidote than a contributor to that bland, conformist mass culturefeared by mid-century critics (left and liberal and conservative) anddescribed by cultural historians.

To understand elitism in relation to the great books idea, one mustconsider the meaning and existence of cultural hierarchies in litera-ture.

cultural democratization as a sometimes contentious process.

Adler’s communityof discourse is a crucial part of this story about the great books idea

still building the Culture Wars politicalteleology.

The “great books idea” becomes, then, a singular theoretical tool fordealing with change over time.

The phrase “great books idea” arose to capture the evident diversityin thinking about the topic—the who, what, where, when, and howassociated with the notion of a great book and great books. The word“idea” allows for the abstraction from material circumstances: lists,institutions, book production, particular debates, people, et cetera.