Human Innovation and Achievement in the Arts is the result of the work of four authors, all of whom have been teaching the eponymous class from its inception and have been engaged in its content and delivery throughout its history. We hope we have brought our great passion for this material into this document. The book, and the course for which it is used, includes an integrated look at music, visual art, and dance. Materials teach the long and complicated history of mankind’s engagement with the arts in a chronological presentation showing the ebb and flow of the various arts, as one art takes on more importance while another recedes or becomes less vigorous or profound.

This book provides both fine arts students and the general student with a comprehensive view of the arts—insights into their meaning, their interrelated qualities, both aesthetically and historically, and the terminological, philosophical, and theoretical framework to speak cogently about them. Thus, this course presents historical and aesthetic information, bridging these two realms. Significant preparatory and introductory materials are presented at the start of the book and along the way in regard to terminology and aesthetic and philosophical concepts that span the arts.