In this volume, the Association for Core Texts and Courses has gathered essays of literary and philosophical accounts that explain who we are simply as persons. Further, essays are included that highlight the person as entwined with other persons and examine who we are in light of communal ties. The essays reflect both the Western experience of democracy and how community informs who we are more generally. Our historical position in a modern or
post-modern, urbanized or disenchanted world is explored by yet other papers. And, finally, ACTC educators model the intellectual life for students and colleagues by showing how to read texts carefully and with sophistication -- as an example of who we can be.

Edited by Robert D. Anderson; Molly Brigid Flynn and Scott J. Lee

Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Contemporary Predicament
Part 3 We the People: A Noble Experiment
Part 4 The Core and the Core of Persons
Part 5 The Person in Society
Part 6 Reading Texts and Liberal Education