Course Schedule – Fall 2024 / History and Philosophy
The courses listed below, in the general area of history and philosophy, are currently offered at Quest.
Click on any title to view the related course page.
EXPLORATIONS IN PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE
Coordinators: Larry Shapiro, Steve Allen
For each session, we will read an essay, classic short story, or excerpt from a play.
FASCINATING NONFICTION
Coordinators: Harriet Finkelstein, Bob Reiss, Ruth Ward
At each session the presenter will tell you about a book you always wanted to read or about a book you never heard of but will be glad that you now have.
FLAWED GREATNESS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
Coordinators: Sandy Kessler, Andrea Irvine
How should we regard Thomas Jefferson today? Should we consider him a great American founder, or someone who, in the words of one scholar, should be “knocked off his pedestal?”
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY
Coordinators: Ilene Winkler, Susannah Falk-Lewis, Penelope
Pi-Sunyer, Michael Wellner
Here’s the history of New York City you don’t learn in school.
NEW AND CLASSIC ESSAYS
Coordinators: Steve Allen, Martha Drezin, Ellie Schaffer, Larry Shapiro
Each week the course coordinators will pick an essay designed to provoke new perspectives, to ask us to question assumptions, and to encourage thoughtful discussion.
NYC AND ITS ENVIRONS: PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
Coordinators: Paul Golomb, Bob Reiss, Sandra Abramson
Starting as a trading post on the tip of Manhattan, today it is a region that reaches beyond the city lines.
POWER: THE GLORY OF IT
Coordinators: Andrea Irvine, David Bartash, Marion Schultheis
Power: it can change chemical structures and core beliefs. It can live in language, storytelling, animals, even an Egyptian Queen.