9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mandatory Reading, Aug 2 2008
This review is from: The Lost Massey Lectures: Recovered Classics from Five Great Thinkers (Paperback)
From the bastions of higher learning in Canada and the CBC, this collection of "Lost" Massey Lectures from the 60s to the 80s is as relevant today as it was to the individual scholars in their time.
The lectures that stand above the others are those from Martin Luther King Jr., if not necessarily for the content but more so given the fact that a black man has made the final cut in the audition for residency at the White House. MLK's growing disenfranchisement following the landmark rulings of '64 are evident here (in '67) and one can only imagine what the world would be like had his life not come to a premature end in '68.
That is not to say that John Kenneth Galbraith or Paul Goodman, both from the US as well, fall short on their lectures. Both are incredibly insightful in their own right. Galbraith's analysis of the "Underdeveloped Country" is still relevant today if not more considering the exaggerated consequences of globalization. Goodman, the self-described anarchist, provides one of the most nuanced arguments that I have read on the topic of American liberalism and its relevance amidst the tumult of the 60s protest movements.
Last but not least are a couple of great lectures on the identity of Canada. In the "Tale of Two Cities", Jane Jacobs compares and contrasts the rise of Toronto and Montreal post-WWII and juxtaposes it with the overall theme of centralization versus rising nationalisms especially in French Quebec. Meanwhile, Eric W. Kierans contextualizes integration between Canada and the US through an analysis of the consequences of the Williamsburg summit of '83.
In this "ahistorical age" as Bernie Lucht states, knowledge of the past is easily forgotten, lost in the clutter of our complicated lives. These great lectures remind us what it means to be a citizen in this global community, where the challenges ahead should not appear so difficult in light of what has come before us. Somewhere in the higher learning institutions of this great land, this book should be required reading.
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