What Makes a Classic?

There will necessarily be changes to the list of classics from time to time, and doubtless many factors must contribute to making a book a 'classic', but we should be able to come up with a rigorous definition that will endure. To do that, we need to understand what we're even trying to accomplish by categorizing something as 'classic.'

Democracy in America Review

Democracy in America, Tocqueville’s nineteenth century commentary inspired by his travels in America and written for his primarily French audience in an attempt to salvage that nation’s struggles with revolution and democracy, is one of those classic works that is referenced over and over in everything from newspaper editorials, to historical essays, to modern, scholarly books.

From the Earth to the Moon and ‘Round the Moon Review

Imagine that the year is 1869.  Heavier-than-air powered flight is a distant fantasy for reckless dreamers and adrenaline junkies willing to throw themselves off of cliffs to test their contraptions.  The American Civil War only recently ended, and the transcontinental railroad is not quite complete.  Steam-powered ships are just beginning to replace sailing vessels for oceanic travel.  This is the context in which Jules Verne, one of the grandfathers of science fiction, told the story of the Apollo program.

The Fellowship of the Ring Review

As I said in my review of The Hobbit, during this reread I was surprised by how light that novel is; I suspect that my memory of its tone from my last reading was affected by my intermediate viewing of the movies. Or, perhaps I was merely linking it with the core Lord of the Rings books, which very quickly take on a markedly different tone from their prequel (and yes, I know that technically there is just one "book," which was split into three parts for the convenience of readers and publishers). The implications of a darker turn are heavy throughout even the early chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring, but are pivotally confirmed with the events of the chapter A Knife in the Dark.