The Multi-Talented Mr. Erskine - by K Chaddock (Hardcover)

About the Book

"At the pinnacle of his multi-faceted career, John Erskine (1879-1951) was one of the best recognized personalities on the American cultural, academic and entertainment scenes. His popular novels and short stories appeared with near monthly regularity from 1925 to 1945. Hollywood film credits and New York gossip columns flashed his name. Radio and newspaper interviewers clamored for his opinions. Scholarly journals published his essays. He traveled throughout the United States and beyond as a visiting professor, an academic lecturer, a touring author and a piano soloist with major symphonies. In addition to the racy novels that popularized ancient philosophy and myth, his serious poetry and reflective essays garnered wide critical success. Ten years after initiating the country's first Great Books program at Columbia University, he became the celebrated first president of the Juilliard School of Music. For John Erskine there was nothing incongruent among his seemingly disparate endeavors. His consistent aim in education, literature and music was to bring the emblems once reserved for the highbrow few to wider and wider audiences. And that is exactly what he did for many thousands of American citizens. Yet, Erskine died with his creativity faded, his name barely remembered and his family in disarray. This first biography of John Erskine views him in the larger contexts of the mass culture and expanded commercialism that helped propel his fame. It also relates a life narrative that demonstrates perils of academic celebrity along a conceptual path from public intellectual to pop icon"--

Book Synopsis

This first biography of John Erskine views him in the larger contexts of the mass culture and expanded commercialism that helped propel his fame. It also relates a life narrative that demonstrates perils of academic celebrity along a conceptual path from public intellectual to pop icon.

Review Quotes

'John Erskine lived one of the great untold lives of the twentieth century - until now. Educator, best-selling author, boulevardier, concert pianist, and first president of The Juilliard School of Music, Erskine was a driving force in highbrow, lowbrow, and middlebrow culture in an era that reveled in all three. The multi-talented Chaddock has done a superb job weaving together the many threads of Erskine's diverse life into a fascinating biographical tapestry. I'm glad this book got written, and got written so well.' - Alex Beam, author of A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books

'This lively and absorbing biography succeeds in uncovering the energetic and controversial man beneath the movement, while reminding us of this country's continuing need for well-read and broadly educated citizens, able to search for and recover their roots in these masterpieces of learning.' - Christopher B. Nelson, president, St. John's College, Annapolis, MD

'Chaddock's book is an elegant and cogent volume on the life of John Erskine, one of the most important American cultural leaders of the first half of the twentieth century, whose legacy is now sadly neglected. Happily, the author brings to life Erskine's many accomplishments as a teacher, poet, essayist, educational visionary, and concert pianist. Erskine's focused vision regarding the important role that the art of music plays within the fabric of American society strongly resonates for twenty-first-century readers. This book is a must read for those interested in America's cultural history from World War I to the end of World War II.' - Joseph W. Polisi, president, The Juilliard School

'Never losing sight of the man at the center of her story, Chaddock has at the same time skillfully placed her subject firmly in his own unique time and place in the history of American educational, musical, and literary culture. Among its many useful services, this book should once and for all dispel the misconception that Great Books programs, which Erskine originated, are fundamentally elitist and exclusionary rather what they are in fact: an expression of the democratization of learning for all citizens.' - Donald H. Whitfield, director, Great Books Discussions, The Great Books Foundation

About the Author

Katherine Elise Chaddock is a professor in the College of Education, University of South Carolina, and the author of numerous published works on the history of American higher education. Among her previous books include: Visions and Vanities: John Andrew Rice of Black Mountain College; (with Susan Schramm) A Separate Sisterhood: Women Who Shaped Education in the Progressive Era; and (with Carolyn Matalene) Vital Signs in Charleston, Carolina Voices, and College of Charleston Voices.