{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T232332Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1636080677?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1636080677","authors":["Jeffrey Bilbro","Jessica Hooten Wilson","David Henreckson","Emily Auerbach","Nathan Beacom","Steve Prince","John Mark Reynolds","Erin Shaw"],"book_id":"9781636080673","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-liberating-arts-1636080677","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781636080673.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","description":"A new generation of teachers envisions a liberal arts education that is good for everyone. Why would anyone study the liberal arts? It’s no secret that the liberal arts have fallen out of favor and are struggling to prove their relevance. The cost of college pushes students to majors and degrees with more obvious career outcomes. A new cohort of educators isn’t taking this lying down. They realize they need to reimagine and rearticulate what a liberal arts education is for, and what it might look like in today’s world. In this book, they make an honest reckoning with the history and current state of the liberal arts. You may have heard – or asked – some of these questions yourself: - Aren’t the liberal arts a waste of time? How will reading old books and discussing abstract ideas help us feed the hungry, liberate the oppressed and reverse climate change? Actually, we first need to understand what we mean by truth, the good life, and justice. - Aren’t the liberal arts racist? The “great books” are mostly by privileged dead white males. Despite these objections, for centuries the liberal arts have been a resource for those working for a better world. Here’s how we can benefit from ancient voices while expanding the conversation. - Aren’t the liberal arts liberal? Aren’t humanities professors mostly progressive ideologues who indoctrinate students? In fact, the liberal arts are an age-old tradition of moral formation, teaching people to think for themselves and learn from other perspectives. - Aren’t the liberal arts elitist? Hasn’t humanities education too often excluded poor people and minorities? While that has sometime been the case, these educators map out well-proven ways to include people of all social and educational backgrounds. - Aren’t the liberal arts a bad career investment? I really just want to get a well-paying job and not end up as an overeducated barista. The numbers – and the people hiring – tell a different story. In this book, educators mount a vigorous defense of the humanist tradition, but also chart a path forward, building on their tradition’s strengths and addressing its failures. In each chapter, dispatches from innovators describe concrete ways this is being put into practice, showing that the liberal arts are not only viable today, but vital to our future. *** Contributors include Emily Auerbach, Nathan Beacom, Jeffrey Bilbro, Joseph Clair, Margarita Mooney Clayton, Lydia Dugdale, Brad East, Don Eben, Becky L. Eggimann, Rachel Griffis, David Henreckson, Zena Hitz, David Hsu, L. Gregory Jones, Brandon McCoy, Peter Mommsen, Angel Adams Parham, Steve Prince, John Mark Reynolds, Erin Shaw, Anne Snyder, Sean Sword, Noah Toly, Jonathan Tran, and Jessica Hooten Wilson","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781636080673","publication_date":"20230815","publisher":"Plough Publishing House","slug":"the-liberating-arts","subtitle":"Why We Need Liberal Arts Education","title":"The Liberating Arts"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"EDU001030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Higher Education Administration","score":0.7403,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POL042050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Libertarianism","score":0.7371,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Politics in Literature","score":0.737,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"EDU001030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Higher Education Administration","score":0.7403,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POL042050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Libertarianism","score":0.7371,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Politics in Literature","score":0.737,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"EDU015000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Higher Education","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"EDU029050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Arts & Humanities Teaching","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"EDU040000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Philosophy of Education","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POL029000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Social Policy","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC026040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Social Theory","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Higher Education Administration","score":0.7403,"slug":"higher-education-administration"},{"label":"Libertarianism","score":0.7371,"slug":"libertarianism"},{"label":"Politics in Literature","score":0.737,"slug":"politics-in-literature"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Higher Education Administration","Good for fans of Education","Good for readers who enjoy Higher Education Administration and Libertarianism."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["John Stuart Mill"],"book_id":"9780486421308","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780486421308.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.9054,"title":"On Liberty","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780486421308"},{"authors":["Alexis de Tocqueville","Arthur Goldhammer"],"book_id":"9781931082549","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781931082549.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.8452,"title":"Alexis De Tocqueville: Democracy in America (LOA #147)","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781931082549"},{"authors":["Alexis de Tocqueville","Isaac Kramnick","Gerald Bevan"],"book_id":"9780140447606","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780140447606.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.7999,"title":"Democracy in America and Two Essays on America","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780140447606"},{"authors":["Timothy Sandefur"],"book_id":"9781964524856","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781964524856.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":9.7876,"title":"You Don't Own Me","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781964524856"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Reading lane: Higher Education Administration and Libertarianism.","Publisher: Plough Publishing House."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":44,"goodreads_ratings_count":66,"goodreads_reviews_count":33,"quality_score":0.8866}}