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 2009-03-23 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard explores the enshrinement of the classics 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, but the Civil War led to a radical alteration of the educational system that steadily eroded their preeminence.