The Great Ideas Today was a series of annual volumes, adding to the Great Books of the Western World.  There were discussions of some of the ideas, other articles, and additions to the library included in each volume.  The series ran from 1961 through 1998.

The Second Edition of the Great Books of the Western World, published after many volumes in the Great Ideas Today, included some items which had also been included in the Great Ideas Today.  Those items included in both the Second Edition and the Great Ideas Today are indicated.

1961

• William O. Douglas, Peregrine Worsthorne
  • Is Democracy The Best Form of Government For The Newly Formed Nations? The Great Debate of the Year
• Milton Mayer
  • Seventeen New Nations-Colonialism Comes To An End
  • The Great Game-America Elects A President
  • Youth-The Young Go “Boom.”
• Mark Van Doren
  • The Year’s Developments In Literature
• Walter Sullivan
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Edward A. Shils
  • The Year’s Developments In Social Sciences, Law, and History
• Gilbert Cant
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• George P Grant
  • The Year’s Developments In Philosophy, Religion, and Theology
• John Dewey
  • Experience and Education (included in GBWW 2nd Edition)
• Albert Einstein
  • Relativity: The Special and General Theory (included in GBWW 2nd Edition)
• Moliere
  •  The School For Wives
• Arnold J. Toynbee
  •  Three Essays

1962

• Barry Goldwater & Jacob K. Javits
  • Does America’s Best Hope For The Future Lie In Political Conservatism? The Great Debate of the Year
• Milton Mayer
  • The Divided World
  • Automation
  • Television
• Alfred Kazin
  • The Year’s Developments In Literature
• George Gamow
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Irving Kristol
  • The Year’s Developments In Social Sciences, Law, and History
• Earl Ubell
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• James Collins
  • The Year’s Developments In Philosophy, Religion, and Theology
• Martin Luther
  • The Freedom of A Christian
• R.H. Tawney
  • The Acquisitive Society (included in GBWW 2nd Edition)
• Max Planck
  • The Universe In The Light of Modern Physics
• James Joyce
  • The Dead

1963

• Herbert J. Muller, Aldous Huxley, Hannah Arendt, Paul Tillich, Harrison Brown
  • Has Man’s Conquest of Space Increased Or Diminished His Stature?: A Symposium
• Space In Great Books of the Western World
• Milton Mayer
  • An Essay On Time: The Tempo of History (An Analysis)
• Saul Bellow
  • The Year’s Developments In Literature
• Leonard Engel & Kenneth Brodney
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• John Herman Randall, Jr.
  • The Year’s Developments In Philosophy, Religion, and Theology
• Edward U. Condon
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Reuel Denney
  • The Year’s Developments In Social Sciences, Law, and History
• Thomas Mann
  • Death In Venice (included in GBWW 2nd Edition)
• Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Existentialism
• Robert Malthus
  • Essay On Population

1964

• New Europe and The U.S.A.: A Symposium
  • William Benton
    • The U.S. and The U.S.S.R.
  • Alexei Adzhubei
    • America From Far and Near
  • Golo Mann
    • A German Historian Looks At America
  • Guido Piovene
    • An Italian Novelist Looks At America
  • Ritchie Calder
    • A European View of American Science
  • Raymond Aron
    • Future Relations Between Europe and The United States
  • What Europeans Have To Say About Americans In Great Books of the Western World
• Milton Mayer
  • The Americanization of Europe
• The Americanization of Europe. A Review In Pictures
• Stanley Kauffmann
  • The Year’s Developments In Literature
• Rene Dubos
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• Melba Phillips
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Daniel Bell
  • The Year’s Developments In Social Sciences, Law, and History
• Henry James
  • Daisy Miller
• Alexis De Tocqueville
  • Democracy In America (Selections) (included in GBWW 2nd Edition)
• John Stuart Mill
  • A Review of Tocqueville
• William James
  • Pragmatism (included in GBWW 2nd Edition)

1965

• Work, Wealth, and Leisure: A Symposium
  • Yale Brozen
    • Automation and Jobs
  • Adolf A. Berle, Jr.
    • Jobs For The Displaced: A Public Responsibility
  • Robert Theobald
    • Cybernation, Unemployment, and Freedom
  • Arthur Larson
    • Progress Sharing: Key To A Private Property Economy
  • Wealth and Happiness; Work and Leisure In Great Books of the Western World
• Milton Mayer
  • On Death
• On Death. A Review in Pictures
• Stephen Spender
  • The Year’s Developments In Literature
• John E. Smith
  • The Year’s Developments In Philosophy, Religion, and Theology
• Kenneth E. Boulding
  • The Year’s Developments In Social Sciences, Law, and History
• George Gaylord Simpson
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• Jeremy Bernstein
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Sir Thomas More
  • Utopia (Abridged)
• Henry David Thoreau
  • Walden (Selections)
• John Strachey
  • The Challenge of Democracy

1966

• The Difference of Woman and The Difference It Makes: A Symposium
  • Lucius F Cervantes
    • How Woman Differs From Man: The Facts
  • Elisabeth Mann Borgese
    • Woman: Nurture Makes The Difference
  • Lucius F. Cervantes
    • The Changing Role of Woman: A Biosocial Interpretation
  • Anna Rosenberg Hoffman
    • A New Look At Woman’s Work
  • James A. Pike
    • The Church and Women
  • Woman In Great Books of the Western World
  • Woman: The Image of the Difference. A Pictorial Essay
• Milton Mayer
  • The New Man
• Susan Sontag
  • The Year’s Developments In Literature
• Asa Briggs
  • The Year’s Developments In Social Sciences, Law, and History
• Hermann Bondi
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Warren S. Mcculloch & Warren M. Brodey
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• Ovid
  • The Metamorphoses (Selections)
• John Henry Newman
  • “On The Development of Ideas” From Essay On The Development of Christian Doctrine
• John Stuart Mill
  • The Subjection of Women

1967

• Should Christianity Be Secularized?: A Symposium
  • Harvey Cox
    • Why Christianity Must Be Secularized
  • E.L. Mascall
    • Why Christianity Should Not Be Secularized
  • Martin E. Marty
    • Does Secular Theology Have A Future
  • M.D. Chenu
    • The Need For A Theology of the World
  • The Idea of Religion In Great Books of the Western World
• Roy Mcmullen
  • The Year’s Developments In Music, Painting, and Sculpture
• Stephen Toulmin
  • The Year’s Developments In Physical Sciences, Technology, and Astronomy
• Theodore Puck
  • The Year’s Developments In Biological Sciences and Medicine
• Langdon B. Gilkey
  • The Year’s Developments In Philosophy, Religion, and Theology
• V. J. Mcgill
  • The Idea of Happiness
• Martin Buber
  • Eclipse of God
• Erwin Schroedinger
  • What Is Life?
• Anonymous
  • Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

1968

• Ideas and Politics. A Symposium
  • Eugene J. McCarthy
    • Reassessment
  • Theodore C. Sorensen
    • Politics and Dissent
  • Richard H. Rovere
    • Political Ideas in the United States
  • Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
    • Intellectuals In American Politics
• Contemporary Poetry. A Symposium
  • Louis Simpson
    • The New American Poetry
  • James Dickey
    • The Self As Agent
  • Stephen Spender
    • The Vital Self and Secondary Means
  • A Little Anthology of Contemporary Poetry
• John R. Platt
  • The New Biology and The Shaping of the Future
• Leonard Cottrell
  • Archaeology
• John Plamenatz
  • Some American Images of Democracy
• The Idea of Equality
• William Wordsworth
  • Selected Prose and Poetry
• Walter Bagehot
  • Physics and Politics
• S. Lewis
  • The Abolition of Man

1969

• The University Today. A Symposium
  • Clark Kerr
    • The Pluralistic University In The Pluralistic Society
  • Edward H. Levi
    • The University As Custodian of Reason
  • Noarn Chomsky
    • The Function of the University In A Time of Crisis
  • John R. Seeley
    • The University As Slaughterhouse
  • Mortimer J. Adler
    • A Catechism For Our Times
• John 1. Goodlad
  • Schooling and Education
• Herbert Feigl
  • The Philosophy of Science
• John G. Burke
  • Technology and Values
• Etienne Gilson
  • The Idea of God and The Difficulties of Atheism
• Mark Van Doren
  • Great Books of the Twentieth Century In Literature
• Anselm of Canterbury
  • Proslogion, Gaunilo’s Criticism, and Anselm’s Reply
• Wilhelm Von Humboldt
  • On The Organization of Institutions of Higher Learning In Berlin
• John Henry Newman
  • The Idea of A University
• John Stuart Mill
  • Inaugural Address At St. Andrews
• Friedrich Schiller
  • Wallenstein-Part One: The Piccolomini

1970

• The Idea of Revolution. A Symposium
  • Arnold J. Toynbee
    • Revolutionary Change
  • Ivan Illich
    • The Need For Cultural Revolution
  • Paul Goodman
    • Anarchism and Revolution
  • William F. Buckley, Jr.
    • The Sorry Condition of Counter-revolutionary Doctrine
  • The Idea of Revolution In Great Books of the Western World
• Robert Mann
  • Beethoven 1770-1827
• William Letwin
  • Social Science and Practical Problems
• Kenneth Rexroth
  • Literature
• R.H. Robins
  • Linguistics
• M.S. Gram and H.B. Veatch
  • Philosophy and Ethics
• Chaim Perelman
  • The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning
• Desiderius Erasmus
  • The Praise of Folly
• Vi. Lenin
  • State and Revolution
• Friedrich Schiller
  • Wallenstein-Part Two: The Death of Wallenstein

1971

• The World Community. A Symposium
  • Ren6 Cassin
    • Human Rights Since 1945: An Appraisal
  • Henry J. Kellermann
    • Ecology: A World Concern
  • Arthur Lai
    • Toward A World University
  • E.J. Mishan
    • Economic Growth: Some Pessimistic Reflections
  • Joseph S. Clark
    • The Prospects For World Government
  • The Idea of World Community In Great Books of the Western World
• M.I. Finley
  • New Developments In Classical Studies
• Peter J. Wyllie
  • Revolution In The Earth Sciences
• Marshall Cohen
  • Civil Disobedience
• I.A. Richards
  • Sources of Our Common Thought: Homer and Plato
• Robert M. Hutchins Et Al.
  • Preliminary Draft of A World Constitution
• Jacques Maritain
  • The Problem of World Government
• Charles Darwin
  • On The Formation of Coral-Reefs
• Jonathan Swift
  • The Battle of the Books
• Matthew Arnold
  • On Translating Homer
• H.G. Wells
  • The Time Machine

1972

• The Civil Police. A Symposium
  • Ramsey Clark
    • Police That Serve Society
  • Norval Morris
    • The Proper Role of the Criminal Law
  • Jerome H. Skolnick
    • Changing Conceptions of the Police
  • James F Ahern
    • Democratic Control and Professional Restraint
  • Casamayor
    • The Problem of Power
  • Law, Authority, and The Limits of Law Enforcement In Great Books of the Western World
• Shirley Robin Letwin
  • Modern Philosophies of Law
• Robert M. Hutchins
  • The Great Anti-School Campaign
• Henry Steele Commager
  • The Discipline of History
• Charles Van Doren
  • The Idea of Freedom-Part One
• August Weismann
  • The Duration of Life
• Herman Melville
  • Benito Cereno

1973

• The Hero and The Heroic Ideal. A Symposium
  • The Hero and The Heroic Ideal In Great Books of the Western World
  • S.L.A. Marshall
    • We Must Have Heroes
  • Ron Dorfman
    • No More Heroes
  • Josef Pieper
    • Heroism and Fortitude
  • Joy Gould Boymn
    • Heroes In Black and White
  • Sidney Hook
    • The Hero As A World Figure
  • Chaim Potok
    • Heroes For An Ordinary World
• W.T. Jones
  • The Widening Gyre: Philosophy In The Twentieth Century
• Walter J. Blum and Harry Kalven, Jr.
  • The Anatomy of Justice In Taxation
• Owen Gingerich
  • A Fresh Look At Copernicus
• Mark Van Doren
  • The Canterbury Tales
• Charles Van Doren
  • The Idea of Freedom-Part Two
• Xenophon
  • In Defense of Socrates
• Anonymous
  • The Song of Roland
• Sir Thomas Browne
  • Religio Medici
• Oliver Goldsmith
  • She Stoops To Conquer