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The Subversive Art of a Classical Education

Reclaiming the Mind in an Age of Speed, Screens, and Skill-Drills

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The Subversive Art of a Classical Education

By: Michael S. Rose
Narrated by: Kyle Ouellette
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About this listen

The Subversive Art of a Classical Education is a bold call to reclaim traditional education as a radical act of cultural resistance, forming minds and souls for wisdom in an age of distraction and decline

In an age obsessed with screens, speed, and skills, The Subversive Art of a Classical Education delivers a bold, timely manifesto for reclaiming education as a deeply human pursuit. Veteran educator and bestselling author Michael S. Rose makes the compelling case that classical education is not just an academic alternative—but a revolutionary act of cultural defiance.

Drawing on over two decades of experience, Rose reveals how traditional practices—grammar, logic, rhetoric, memorization, handwriting, slow reading, and the liberal arts—foster attention, discernment, and wisdom in a distracted world. Each chapter explores how these time-honored disciplines develop intellectual and moral virtues now endangered by modern education’s utilitarian and technological focus.

The Subversive Art of a Classical Education calls on parents, teachers, and thinkers to reject the reduction of students into data points and rediscover the transformative power of real learning. This book is a rallying cry for those ready to resist the flattening forces of modernity and form souls capable of freedom, depth, and meaning.

©2026 Michael S. Rose (P)2026 Skyhorse Audio
Education

Critic reviews

“Reading The Subversive Art of a Classical Education, the first words that sprang to mind were Pope's: 'What oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed.' This is a book that should be read by every classical educator in the land, and every parent serious about their child's education. It explains what the classical education movement is trying to accomplish, its philosophy in the original sense of that word, and illustrates by its eloquence, poise, and moral gravitas the forma mentis of the classically educated gentleman. A pleasure to read.”—James Hankins, Professor of History, Harvard University

“Michael S. Rose is a revolutionary on a mission to liberate this generation from the cultural amnesia foisted on them by the educational status quo. By unleashing his classical vision, he demonstrates what it means to educate: to lead students to what they ought to know and ought to love. The Subversive Art of a Classical Education strikes one mighty blow after another for cultural anamnesis and signals a path to genuine educational renewal. Read it. Join his revolution. Subvert the fleeting with the permanent.”—Andrew J. Zwerneman, President, Cana Academy, History250 Writer and Narrator

“The most complete resource for classical education done well that I have ever seen! How Michael Rose managed to cover all the benefits of the form and content of this education in a single resource boggles my mind. He looks beyond the intellectual benefits—though that’s explained—to the virtuous formation of the human who is a student in this tradition in these ways. With many more resources listed in every chapter, this book is a college-level course for teachers, parents, and school founders for how to promote this movement beautifully. Whatever revolution Michael Rose is leading, I’m in!”—Jessica Hooten Wilson, Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University, and author of The Scandal of Holiness and Reading for the Love of God

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