The Art of Being Human, The Humanities as a Technique for Living, 12th edition

Published by Pearson (October 1, 2023) © 2024
  • Richard Paul Janaro
  • Thelma Altshuler

Title overview

For courses in Introduction to Humanities.

Help students broaden their perspectives and enrich their lives through the humanities

The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living introduces students to the joys of the humanities. Authors Richard Janaro and Thelma Altshuler present a thematic approach to learning about the best efforts of human culture through the ages and around the globe. This topical text empowers students to think critically about key artforms and themes, and to draw connections among them.

The 12th Edition offers updated coverage of contemporary works from around the globe to help students better understand themselves and the world in which we live.

Hallmark features of this title

  • The authors provide full coverage of the humanities, discussing all key disciplines and examining connections to important issues.
  • A modular organization enables instructors to teach the course in their preferred sequence.
  • A topical approach allows students to explore 1 artistic mode at a time, rather than tackling multiple disciplines in each chapter.
  • The inclusion of a diverse range of traditional and contemporary examples of the arts from around the globe familiarizes students with the full reach of the humanities.
  • A Critical Focus features offer a lens through which students can explore a single work, or compare works within a genre.
  • The authors' accessible writing style guides students on their exploration of the world of the humanities.

New and updated features of this title

  • UPDATED: The chapters on the disciplines of the humanities (chapters 4 to 9) highlight contemporary works by people of all genders from around the world, including Thailand, Mexico, Africa, Afghanistan and South America. New contemporary material in every chapter includes:
    • Fresh analysis and examples of poetry, prose, visual art, music, film, dance, Broadway spectaculars such as Hamilton and Rent, and more
    • A new section on the age of streaming, focusing on international television (K-dramas, telenovelas)
  • UPDATED: The thematic chapters (chapters 10 to 16) have been revised to include more diverse, equitable examples from global culture. Highlights include new material on environmental art and an updated discussion of freedom movements today.
  • NEW: What Do You Think? discussion features invite students to form their own opinions about what they're seeing and reading. This feature serves to expand the authors' emphasis on critical thinking.
  • UPDATED: The 12th Edition includes 130 new images which offer enhanced representation across cultures, genders and eras.

Key features

Features of Revel for the 12th Edition

  • Architectural Panoramas give students a 360-degree view of renowned edifices and landmarks, helping them gain a sense of space and place.
  • Pan/zoom functionality along with scale markers invite students to look closely at particular artworks, while hearing the author's voice reading the text material.
  • Students on Site videos, shot and narrated by proficient student learners, illuminate key topics.

Table of contents

Part 1: Exploring the Humanities

  1. The Humanities: A Shining Beacon
  2. The Humanities and Critical Thinking
  3. Myth and the Origin of the Humanities

Part 2: Disciplines of the Humanities

  1. Literature
  2. Art
  3. Music
  4. Theater
  5. The Musical Stage: Opera, Musical Theater, Dance
  6. Film and Television

Part 3: Themes of the Humanities

  1. Religion
  2. Morality
  3. Happiness
  4. Love
  5. Life-Affirmation
  6. Nature
  7. Freedom

Author bios

About our authors

Harvard-educated Richard Paul Janaro has authored or coauthored 5 college-level texts, including The Art of Being Human, with Thelma Altshuler; Responses to Drama (also with Ms. Altshuler); Human Worth (with Darwin Gearhart); Philosophy: Something to Believe In; and Identity through Prose. He is also a playwright whose works include Virginia Woolf: The Last Day, commissioned by actress Karen Libman, and Unwavering Light (Einstein in 1905), commissioned by Grand Valley State University and shown before a gathering of physicists from throughout the state of Michigan in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the theory of relativity. Professor Janaro won an Emmy for educational programming for “The Humanities: What They Are and What They Do.” He is a co-founder and former Dean of Theater Arts at the New World School of the Arts, a performing arts high school in the Miami-Dade public school district.

Educated at the University of Miami and the University of California/Berkeley in history and literature, Thelma C. Altshuler taught literature and the Humanities at the University of Miami from 1953 to 1962, and at Miami-Dade College, from which she retired as Professor Emerita in 1998. At the University of Miami, Professor Altshuler helped organize a required undergraduate interdisciplinary course in Art, Music, Religion, Drama and Philosophy. At Miami-Dade College, she taught the Humanities in a variety of differently structured courses and occupied the first Bonnie McCabe Endowed Teaching chair in the Humanities in 1992. Professor Altshuler is the author of multiple textbooks, all of which encourage critical thinking and respect for the way the past impinges on the present.

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