Essays on Work and Culture

Written by Hamilton Wright Mabie

Narrated by LibriVox Community

The author investigates the world of work against a backdrop of culture. Each of the 25 essays focuses on one aspect of the topic. For example, the first essay, "Tool or Man?" looks at two views of man. One is that of strength as the provider of security. The other is that of aesthete, as an enthusiast of the arts or academics or religion. In our culture, provider of security is the winner every time. Man as a source of multiple talents cannot be allowed. As the author frames the argument, "Specialisation has been carried so far that it has become an organised tyranny." The author promotes the idea of a world in which we view the total man, not just the provider of security. In succeeding essays the author deals with growth from youth to maturity, the role of education, and man's search for freedom. - Summary by Bill Boerst

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

Hamilton Wright Mabie

Hamilton Wright Mabie, A.M., L.H.D., LL.D. (1846-1916) was an American essayist, editor, critic, and lecturer. He was born on December 13, 1846 at Cold Spring, New York, the youngest child of Sarah Colwell Mabie and Levi Jeremiah Mabie, whose ancestors were early immigrants to New Amsterdam, New Netherland about 1647. Mabie’s family moved to Buffalo, New York when he was approaching school age and passed his college entrance examination at age 16. He attended Williams College (1867) and the Columbia Law School (1869) and received honorary degrees from his own alma mater, as well as Union College, Western Reserve and Washington and Lee universities. He passed his bar exams in 1869, did not enjoy the study and practice of law. In the summer of 1879 he was hired to work at the weekly magazine, Christian Union (renamed The Outlook in 1893), an association that lasted until his death. In 1884, Mabie was promoted to associate editor of the Christian Union and then elected to the Author’s Club, whose members included such men of established reputation as George Cary Eggleston, Richard Watson Gilder, Brander Matthews, and Edmund Clarence Stedman. In 1890 and 1894, respectively, a collection of Mabie’s essays which reflected upon life, literature and nature were published in two volumes entitled My Study Fire. Many more books followed over the next two decades, including Nature in New England (1890); Short Studies in Literature (1891); Under the Trees and Elsewhere (1891); Essays in Literary Interpretation (1892); Essays on Nature and Culture (1896); Essays on Books and Culture (1897); Essays on Work and Culture (1898); The Life of the Spirit (1899); William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man (1900); Parables of Life (1902); Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know (1905); Introduction to Notable Poems (1909); and Japan To-Day and To-Morrow (1914). Mabie was a resident of Summit, New Jersey. He died on December 31, 1916, aged 70.