For One-Semester Introduction to the Humanities and General Humanities courses.

Reality Through the Arts provides a comprehensive introduction that covers both arts history and aesthetic perception in western and non-western cultures by covering all the artistic disciplines: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture, theatre, music, dance, cinema, and literature.

Reality Through the Arts is a brief text ideal for the one-semester introduction to humanities course.  This is a successful text because of its unique organization, which makes it an excellent alternative to the standard chronological organization found in most other humanities text.  Part I, “The Media of the Arts,” offers independent chapters on two dimensional art (drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography), sculpture, architecture, music, theatre, cinema, dance and literature.  Part II, “The Styles of the Arts,” is a brief chronology, focusing on styles rather than encyclopedic detail.  The book is written at a level for students with little or no background in the arts and draws on author Dennis Sporre’s nearly 50 years experience with the arts in the classroom and around the world.