The Liberal Education of Charles Eliot Norton

Charles Eliot Norton was a major figure in American journalism, letters and education.

Norton was editor of the "North American Review" and a founder of the "Nation".

He was the leading American Dantist of his day, translating the "Vita Nuova" and the "Divine Comedy" in what became standard versions.

He initiated art history in the college curriculum, organized the field of classical archaeology in the USA and formulated what has come to be known in college courses as "Western Civilization".The biography offers an account of Norton's life and its significance, following him from his perilous travels across India as a young merchant to his role as his country's pre-eminent cultural critic - an American counterpart to John Ruskin and Matthew Arnold, his close friends.

Born into the world of Boston's intellectual elite, Norton grew up in a culture of republicanism which shaped his understanding of intellectual life, education and the role of education in strengthening the republic and democratic values.

His own broad education and youthful travels to India, the Middle East and Europe, Turner explains, were key to his appreciation of history, culture and art and his lifelong effort to integrate the three.

His varied learning and engaging personality won him a wide circle of literary friends and a loyal following of students at Harvard college who crowded into his courses.Drawing on archives in the USA, Britain and Italy, the biography seeks to reveal a new picture of the beginnings of the humanities in American higher education.