Saturday, June 06, 2009

NOW YOU KNOW


Some of us would never have made it through the literary classics without the help of Clifton Hillegass. He is the “Cliff” behind CliffsNotes, those little yellow study guides that condense a hundred pages of Shakespeare into three concise paragraphs. Hillegass was a graduate of the University of Nebraska and an Army Air Corps veteran. After World War II ended, he got a job as the manager of the wholesale department of the Nebraska Book Company, a textbook publisher. Hillegass was an avid reader and loved literature. When he published his first Cliff’s Notes (the series eventually lost the apostrophe) in the basement of his Lincoln home, it was with the intent of enriching the reader’s experience and pointing out plot subtleties, not providing a “cheat sheet.” In fact, each volume of his study guides included a signed note to his readers that stated: “A thorough appreciation of literature allows no shortcuts.” Hillegass started his company with a $4,000 loan in 1958 and published 16 Shakespearean study guides. In 1998, he sold Cliffs Notes to IDG Books for $14 million. “Cliff” passed away in 2001, but his memory lives on in his native Nebraska. For 40 years, he donated 10% of his profits to local charitable causes.

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