It is the fractious, maddening approach to the conduct of human affairs that values equality despite its elusiveness, that values democracy despite its debasement, that values pluralism despite its messiness, that values the institutions of civic culture despite their flaws, and that values public life as something higher and greater than the sum of all our private lives. The founders of the magazine valued these things—and they valued the immense amount of effort it takes to preserve them from generation to generation.

Praise:

Walter Isaacson: "This is a glorious collection."

Including:

The American Forests | John Muir | August 1897 | The Atlantic
As We May Think | Vannevar Bush | July 1945 | The Atlantic
Broken Windows | James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling | March 1982 | The Atlantic
The Roots of Muslim Rage | Bernard Lewis | September 1990 | The Atlantic
Strivings of the Negro People | W.E.B. Du Bois | August 1897 | The Atlantic
Cloud, Castle, Lake | Vladimir Nabokov | June 1941 | The Atlantic
The Captivity of Marriage | Nora Johnson | June 1961 | The Atlantic