You can get a used set of the Great Books of the Western World for around $300.

You can get a used set of the Gateway to the Great Books of the Western World for around $50.

The Wikipedia articles for Great Books, Great Books of the Western World, and Gateway to the Great Books of the Western World are very complete.

Other Books:

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J Adler and Charles Van Doren. 1972

Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf and other Indestructible Writers of the Western World by David Denby. 2005

The Western Cannon: The Books and School of the Ages by Harold Bloom. 1994

Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds by Harold Bloom. 2002

The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A J Jacobs. 2004

I have called myself a Poet for a very long time.

Other people have called me a Writer.

I have struggled with ever wanting to be known as a Historian.

Being called a Philosopher would be considered high praise.

My choice at American Public University is between:

MA in History

Ancient and Classical History

American History

European History

OR

MA in Humanities based on the Great Books of the Western World

Help me decide.

I joined this today. It looks like something fun to do.

My Myers-Briggs type indicator recommends that I have a blog. Here I Am!

INTJ

Late Antiquity – 3rd to 7th Century.

Early Middle Ages – Late 5th Century to 10th Century.

High Middle Ages – AD 1000 to 1300.

Late Middle Ages – AD 1300 to 1500.

Early Modern Period – 1500 to 1800.

Hi David –

I can’t help you decide which field to pursue, but you gotta admit ancient history, the American Revolution, and the Civil War are pretty different things. Speaking from experience, the folks in ancient history have a rougher time when it comes to writing the thesis, basically because of the small number of primary sources. But the closer you get to the present, those sources more or less explode. In a perfect world primary sources drive the thesis. 

Email Response from Steve Kreis, PhD

Almost done with Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced) on Udemy. I am already signed up for a few more like courses on Udemy.

Perhaps this is a new path for me.

I have worn out my welcome with American Public University. I have told them to place me in the non-degree seeking program so that I can take various classes in Humanities and/or History until I decide which specific Masters degree to pursue. I have also been looking at other Masters degrees that I might be more interested in.

I think you have talent. And that you have a story that people would want to read. Writing well is a hard state to reach, and it takes sustained learning and regular time if you want to support yourself with it. I remember your story. That line about meeting a serial killer stuck with me. I remember you talking about your mom, about your strained relationship with her. You had good hooks. Hooks do not make a story, but you can’t have a great story without then. I’m trying to be honest. I’m not trying to discourage you or evade a flat yes or no. Are you the best writer I ever read? No. Not yet. I don’t know how your writing would look after it had been through the professional editing process. I don’t know how successful it would be in the market. But what really matters is what you want to do. If you want to be a writer, if that fulfills you, and if you want to just be a writer, then go after it. Pursue it. No one starts out “a good writer,” in my opinion. That has to be learned. And not all writing fits all audiences. But to directly answer your question: Are you at the mountaintop? No. Can you get there? Yes. I hope this helped.