This is a great book for an insomniac, it puts you right to sleep. It's too bad, because Lamont seems to have put in a lot of work reviewing his encyclopedia for vapid generalities about dead white men.Specifically, the "philosophy of humanism" in Lamont's hands is an exercise in wool gathering, padding, and trying to look like he's saying something while saying as little as possible (but the same could be said for the Humanist Manifesto III). In addition, the book definitely shows a '50s mentality which has not been edited out of the later "editions." For Lamont, the '60s never happened.The historical review probably has some value as a bibliography to more vital and lively works. Really, I'd like to be more positive, but I just can't find much to like about this book. By the way, I am a humanist.