近代文化史の碩学が、現在の人文学と図書館の危機に対して、読書コミュニティの重要性を訴え、往時の原点を示す。New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2009. "Times have been, and are, dark. But even in dark times, the social worlds of scholarship provide room for human warmth and the desire and pursuit of the truth and promote deep scholarship and intelligent writing. And these abide." -from the Introduction. In our noisy, caffeinated world it has never been more challenging to be a scholar. When many of our fellow citizens seem to have forgotten why we collect books in the buildings we call libraries, Grafton's engaging, erudite essays could be a rallying cry for the revival of the liberal arts.