The Great Books of Liberty
Introduction
Date: 19 Nov. 2018
Revised: 26 June, 2019
The founder of Liberty Fund, Pierre F. Goodrich, had a long standing interest in the Great Books program which goes back to the creation of the Great Books Foundation in 1947 by Dr. Robert M. Hutchins, the chancellor of the University of Chicago. Goodrich was a member of the Foundation's National Board between 1947 and 1955 and was Chairman of the Indiana State Committee of the Foundation.[1] However, Goodrich had a falling out with the National Board over the kind of texts which should be included on their list of "Great Books". Given his interest in political, economic, and individual liberty, Goodrich had a more political focus than his colleagues, so in 1957 he began to plan a way to implement his own version of the Great Books, which would become in effect "The Great Books of Liberty" and which would become a core component of the OLL online collection of texts.
His vision took the form of a seminar room which he paid to be built in the Lilly Library at Wabash College, Indiana. The names of the authors on his list of great books (along with some names of texts) would be engraved on the wall of a large seminar room which had an oval table in the centre and book cases around the perimeter of the room. The list of names and titles ended with the American Declaration of Independence of 1776. The two images below will give some idea of what it looks like.
Goodrich's intent in designing the room in this way is well described by Hans Eicholz:[2]
The room provides the students of Wabash College with a practical tool for understanding and interpreting the historical evolution of the idea of individual liberty. Etched into limestone slabs set in its walls are important names and developments of significance in the history of freedom that stretch back in time from the Declaration of Independence to the epic story of Gilgamesh and the Sumerian reforms of Urukagina of Lagash in the third millennium B.C. The room itself is of grand proportions, as it must be to accommodate the great span of time over which the idea of liberty developed: thirty-eight feet from north to south and fifty feet from east to west. The ceiling is eighteen feet high with inset lights that illuminate the discussion table below and the stone inscriptions on the walls.
Beneath the limestone inlays Mr. Goodrich placed the primary works and histories of each entry plus other writings that have contributed significantly to our understanding of liberty. The collection of books thus extends the story of humankind's struggle against tyranny well beyond the Declaration of Independence and into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In the middle of this vast collection of materials is a large oval table that can be broken down into smaller stations to accommodate conversation groups of various sizes. When one considers the room as a whole, the intent of its designer becomes evident: the idea of liberty, which was developed and transmitted from generation to generation, is seen as a long historical conversation of which the students themselves are a part.
The lighting of the room first calls the student's attention to the walls, where he or she views in brief the long chain of names and dates. Then, wherever his interest may draw him, the student is encouraged to explore further by consulting the appropriate books below the etchings. And should other students be present, the table and chairs invite them to converse about the subjects at hand.
As noted by Mr. Goodrich in the introductory letter following this foreword, the whole chamber forms a link between the present and the past in the exploration of liberty. In the hands of an able teacher, the potential of the room is tremendous. Those who use the Goodrich Seminar Room as its founder intended immediately sense that they are indeed part of a long conversation that includes not only those who sit around the table but also all those whose works are on the shelves and whose names are etched into the surrounding walls.
We have tried to show the relationship between the names on the four walls of the Goodrich Seminar Room here.
In addition to the names on the walls of the Goodrich Seminar Room, Goodrich drew up other lists of great books and authors from time to time. In the list of texts provided below we use the following abbreviations to indicate which list the author or title came from:
- "GSR" for those names and titles which appear on the walls of the Goodrich Seminary Room at Wabash College (there are about 100)
- "Other" for those names which appeared on other lists Goodrich drew up from time to time
- "ADD." for those "additional" names we have added from books published by Liberty Fund or on whom Liberty Fund has organized academic conferences.
What makes Goodrich's list of the "Great Books" a bit unusual is that he begins with ancient India, China, and Sumeria, which shows that he was interested in more than just the "western tradition"; he has a larger number of medieval authors than one might have expected; he stops (at least in the Goodrich Seminar Room) with the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 and not, again as one might have expected, with the American Constitution; that there is a relative paucity of texts from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Please note, that our lists of texts for the 19th and 20th centuries are more political and economic in their focus than the previous historical periods.
Key:
- wthin each category the authors are listed in alphabetical order
- the link from the author's name takes you to the main author page of the OLL collection
- the link from the title takes you to a copy of the text in the OLL collection. If we do not have a copy there is not a link provided.
- the link from "GSR" takes you a brief description of the author which was written for the book edited by Hans Eicholz, The Goodrich Seminar Room at Wabash College. An Explanation (2000).
- where we have guides or discussions about a particular author or topic we include a link in the right hand column of the table. "LM" = the online discussion forum called "Liberty Matters" where many of these texts have been discussed.
- "Provocative Pairings of Texts" or PP: We have paired some of the Great Books of Liberty in our collection with other texts which are contemporary with them but which have an opposite or contrasting point of view. The aim is to provoke discussion and "conversations" about the nature of liberty, the power of the state, and their rspective limits.
[1] Goodrich's association with the University of Chicago Great Books program is described in Dane Starbuck, The Goodriches: An American Family (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001), Section IV: Pierre F. Goodrich. Crusader and Philosopher </titles/1065#lf1429_label_811>. Details of the titles of the books selected by Mortimer Adler et al. can be found at Gateway to the Great Books and
Great Books of the Western World.
[2] Hans L. Eicholz, "Foreword," The Goodrich Seminar Room at Wabash College. An Explanation. With a Foreword by Hans L. Eicholz and an Introduction by Pierre F, Goodrich. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000), pp. ix-x.
The Great Books of Liberty
List of Historical Periods
- Ancient Asia
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient Rome
- The Medieval Period
- Renaissance and Reformation
- Early Modern Period
- 18th Century
- 19th Century
- 20th Century and Beyond
Ancient Asia [other authors from this period]
China |
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Mo Tzu (c. 470-391 BC) |
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India |
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| Author | Source | Other Guides |
Bhagavadgita (c. 200 BC) |
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Sumeria and Middle East |
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| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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Ur-Nammu (ca. 2050 B.C.)
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Old Testament
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Urukagina (c. 2350 BC)
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Ancient Greece [other authors from this period]
| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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Socrates (470 BC-399 BC)
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Thales (624-546 B.C.)
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Ancient Rome [other authors from this period]
| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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| ADD. | ||
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Galen (129-199) |
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New Testament
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The Medieval Period [other authors from this period]
| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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Aquinas, St. Thomas (1225-1274)
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Avicenna (980-1037)
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Groot, Gerhard (1340-1384)
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Thomas á Kempis (1380-1471)
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Other | |
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Magna Carta (1215) |
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Gerard Zerbolt (1367-1398)
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Other |
The Renaissance and Reformation [other authors from this period]
| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543)
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Machiavelli, Niccolo (1469-1527)
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Other | |
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Melanchthon, Philipp (1497-1560)
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ADD. | |
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Reformation Chorale |
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Savonarola, Girolamo (1452-1498)
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Early Modern Period [other authors from this period]
| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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ADD. | |
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ADD. | |
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ADD. | |
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Other |
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| Other | ||
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Other | |
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ADD. | |
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ADD. | |
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ADD. | |
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Pufendorf, Samuel von (1632-1694)
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ADD. | |
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Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
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Spinoza, Benedict de (1632-1677)
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ADD. |
18th Century [other authors from this period]
Nineteenth Century [other authors from this period]
Twentieth Century [other authors from this period]
| Author | Source | Other Guides |
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Buchanan, James M. (1919-2013)
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Hayek, Friedrich A. (1899-1992)
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Other | |
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Other | |
| Other | ||
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Röpke, Wilhelm von (1899-1966)
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Other |
Books
- Banned Books
- Bastiat’s Works
- Böhm-Bawerk, “On the Completion of Marx’s System (of Thought)” (1896, 1898)
- Böhm-Bawerk, “Zum Abschluß des Marxschen Systems” (1896)
- Classics of Liberty: The Enhanced Editions
- Gordon Discourses images
- Gordon’s Discourses on Tacitus and Sallust
- Introduction
- James Mills Political Works
- Leveller Tracts
- Marx’s Works
- Molinari’s Works
- New Collection - Banned Books
- New OLL Titles
- Newe Bokes and Articulles
- Some Provocative Pairings of Texts about Liberty and Power
- Special Collections overview
- Spooner’s Works
- The Great Books of Liberty