Download or read book The Golden Age of the Classics in America written by Carl J Richard and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-23 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a masterful study Carl Richard explores how the Greek and Roman classics became enshrined in American antebellum culture. For the first time, knowledge of the classics extended beyond aristocratic males to the middle class, women, African Americans, and frontier settlers. The Civil War led to a radical alteration of the educational system in a way that steadily eroded the preeminence of the classics.