Arnold defines culture as the pursuit of perfection, of sweetness and light, and turns it on the England of his day, sorting its classes into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace and weighing the rival pulls of Hellenism and Hebraism. Dissenting chapels, Liberal cant and the worship of machinery all come under his elegant, ironic fire.
One of the founding texts of cultural criticism, still quoted whenever the purpose of education and the arts is argued. Download the free EPUB.