Today, Nostalgia Is Almost As Unacceptable As

From The Viewpoint Of Political Power, Culture Is Absolutely Vital. So Vital, Indeed, That Power Cannot Operate Without It. It Is Culture, In The Sense Of The Everyday Habits And Beliefs Of A People, Which Beds Power Down, Makes It Appear Natural And Inevitable, Turns It Into Spontaneous Reflex And Response.

The British Are Supposed To Be Particularly Averse To Intellectuals, A Prejudice Closely Bound Up With Their Dislike Of Foreigners. Indeed, One Important Source Of This Anglo-saxon Distaste For Highbrows And Eggheads Was The French Revolution, Which Was Seen As An Attempt To Reconstruct Society On The Basis Of Abstract Rational Principles.

Rousseau Ranks Among The Great Educational Theorists Of The Modern Era, Even If He Was The Last Man To Put In Charge Of A Classroom. Young Adults, He Thought, Should Be Allowed To Develop Their Capabilities In Their Distinctive Way.

The Present Is Only Understandable Through The Past, With Which It Forms A Living Continuity; And The Past Is Always Grasped From Our Own Partial Viewpoint Within The Present.

Most Students Of Literature Can Pick Apart A Metaphor Or Spot An Ethnic Stereotype, But Not Many Of Them Can Say Things Like: 'the Poem's Sardonic Tone Is Curiously At Odds With Its Plodding Syntax.