Mark Edmundson is a professor at the University of Virginia, and a prizewinning scholar. In addition to Why Write?, Why Teach?, and Why Read?, he is also the author of Teacher, The Death of Sigmund Freud, and The Fine Wisdom and Perfect Teachings of the Kings of Rock and Roll. His writing has appeared in such publications as the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Nation, the American Scholar, Raritan, and Harper's. He lives in Batesville, Virginia.

From one of America's great professors, a collection of works exploring the importance of reading, writing, and teaching well, for anyone invested in the future of the humanities.

In his series of books Why Read?, Why Teach?, and Why Write? Edmundson, a renowned professor of English at the University of Virginia, explored the vital worldly roles of reading, teaching, and writing, earning a vocal following of writers, teachers, and scholars at the top of their fields, from novelist Tom Perrotta to critics Laura Kipnis and J. Hillis Miller. He has devoted his career to tough-minded yet optimistic advocacy for the humanities, arguing for the importance of reading and writing to an examined and fruitful life and affirming the invaluable role of teachers in opening up fresh paths for their students.

Now for the first time The Heart of the Humanities collects into one volume this triad of impassioned arguments, including an introduction from the author on the value of education in the present and for the future. The perfect gift for students, recent graduates, writers, teachers, and anyone interested in education and the life of the mind, this omnibus edition will make a powerful and timely case for strengthening the humanities both in schools and in our society.

WHY TEACH? is a heartfelt and provocative book that will interest anyone who wonders what happened to the idea that college should be a life-altering, mind-expanding experience. With wry humor and hard-won wisdom, Mark Edmundson offers an inspiring vision of the liberal arts as a vehicle for personal transformation.

An engaging blend of social criticism, self-improvement wisdom, and appeal to fellow humanities professors . . . Edmundson writes with a rare combination of force and humility.

Full of wit, sage advice, and a well-honed passion for the art of writing, which in Edmundson's view looks much like the art of living well. Just the right companion for readers and writers.