Colleges and Universities Books

Imagine the world without Einstein's intellectual pursuits. Imagine, too, an advanced post-industrial society without a rigorously educated middle-class. Imagine the end of the United States as a global power. Now connect the cornucopia of these images.

Markets are not the gods of serious intellectual pursuits, a point that Christopher Newfield implies so well in his sophisticated analysis of how public higher education has been victimized by a culture wars' discourse promulgated by political coalitions steeped in the stagnation of conservative paternalism. In brief, the U.S. public has been cheated out of the best possibilities of public higher education as public universities have deteriorated financially over the last four decades. No amount of economic jingoism or political manipulation can nullify the preponderance of empirical evidence Newfield amasses in support of his contentions. Worse yet, policymakers have abandoned a robust vision of postsecondary education as a collective good. Increasingly, the parasitic norms of privatization and commercialization drive intellectual decisions.

Arguably, until this saturated generation of mass media and commodity consumption, the very best public achievements of Western civilization have been based on the genius of free inquiry (even more so than free enterprise). University faculty members have, for the most part, devoted themselves to research rigorous enough to expose ludicrous ideologies, materialistic fantasies, pedantic indulgences, and bogus evidence. For the great qualitative aspects of collective human existence, market ideology has too often been short-sighted and insufficient. To witness, the persistent intergenerational scourges of disease, idiocy, racism, sexism, and poverty could not have been challenged effectively without even relatively modest advances in expertise or knowledge.

One great reason the powerful ship Titanic sank was a failure of leadership and critical thinking. Leaders ignored the signs of the times and plunged many innocent lives into ruin and devastation. As in the Titanic story, naïve political leaders and popular social conformity to trivial mythologies can gradually plunge great nations into the abyss of ignorant demise. As noted philosopher, Randall R. Curren establishes in his poignant book entitled Aristotle on the Necessity of Public Education, authentic democracy depends on critical thinking in order to escape the tyranny of the majority as well as the barbarism of ignorance. Slothful, mediocre, and superficial thinking ruins civilization. Newfield shows how such shoddy thinking has imperiled the treasures of public higher education, before suggesting how this situation can be refuted and transformed for the collective good of future generations. Public higher education matters.

What a delight, after several years of dull, self-important books on the state of academia, to receive another clearly thought through book from Chris Newfield. As usual his research is not only well documented, but widely drawn. His curiosity lends each example the quality of a good story--we want to follow and learn more and see where it all comes out.
His sense of Americana, all of the beliefs, myths, and dreams enlivening the hopes of the middle-class, provide a compelling context for the arguments of the book. We begin to care what happens in all these committee rooms and budget conferences and administrative policy-taking. He takes us along to see through the myriad details into the resolute engine driving the decision-making. And he does this as a traveling companion, not as a didact.
Newfield also lays a foundation for a re-making of the university, after the relentless unmaking, not in the usual fix-it mode, but in providing a comprehensive understanding of the problems and how they arise. Rather than finger shaking he directs a focused intelligence on the myriad causes, missteps, and politizations, which turned the university from its committed path into unexpected territory.
Probably the main reason to read this book is that it is actually a great read. A non-academic friend picked Unmaking the Public University off my desk, read a few pages and asked to borrow it. When asked why, she said she found the style compelling.
The other important reason is that we begin to understand what has happened to public education and thus what can facilitate reincarnation.
Deirdre C. Patrick
Palo Alto

Because there are no standardized admissions requirements for veterinary schools in the US, this was an incredibly useful tool for me during my admissions cycle. Even though I had the time to mine individual schools for their information and plug it into a spreadsheet, I still found info. in this book that I had missed. Combine the opportunity cost of one's time, and it's well worth the cost.

Must have if you are planning to apply for vet school.

If you've ever wondered what C-town was like before you got there, this is the book for you.

This book has a huge collection of pictures that chronicle thehistory of Clemson University. It is a must have for any Clemsonfanatic or those who truly enjoy learning about the old days at Clemson.

I'm a W & L student, and all I can say is that this book is virtually flawless. It tells you what the school is really like, not what the administration tells you it is like. This book can really help you decide whether or not this college is right for you. It would also be helpful for any incoming freshman; the book contains a good bit of W & L slang that could be very useful in a student's first few weeks. If you're thinking of coming to Washington and Lee, BUY this book. For W & L I YELL LIKE HELL!!

This book is the first college guide book I've seen that has kept me interested as I read it. Not only was it a fun read and I found myself laughing at certain things, but the information is really insightful. It was a welcome change to get some perspective on the school from a student who goes there and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. I really believe anyone looking at this school will get something relevant out of the book. How could you not?!

I wasn't sure about Washington University before reading this book but now I think I know it much better. I'm happy to have found such a well written guide on this college. What really impressed me was the detail of information given and the fact that it was written by a student. I think anyone looking at this university should get this book. You won't be disappointed!

In the last ten years Washington University in St. Louis has grown into one of the country's premiere liberal arts colleges, drawing more and more prospective students to the midwest for a look.

This College Prowler guide is the ultimate companion to a visit to St. Louis. The book's 29 chapters give you hundreds of uncensored student opinions on topics including the best and worst campus food, Greek life, campus dating, the best dorms, the intramural sport scene, and which professors to avoid at all costs.

Prospective students can pick up some Wash U slang, read about how to dress for the horrible St. Louis winters, discover the quirky stores on South Grand Blvd., or read up on campus traditions like Thurtene and WILD. Learn what frat parties are like, the prevalance of student drug use, and even track fashion trends on campus. Above all you'll find out the best and worst things about living and studying at Washington University.

You're about to pick a place to spend the next four years of your life. This College Prowler guide helps you make the right decision by giving you the opinions of those who know the school best -- real Washington University undergrads. Written by students for prospective students, it's an honest and essential aid in making your big decision.

You'll also find in the guide a wealth of information about things to do in St. Louis and at Washington University, so if you decide to attend, you'll already have a head start on diving into the clubs, arts, sports, business, and social life of the area.

Please feel free to contact me, the book's author, at dan.carlin@gmail.com

I've long been a fan of David Swanger's work. I love how the straightforward simplicity of his poems' language and structures releases nuanced emotion. His maturity, as a poet and as a person, results in poems that shimmer with the mysteries of "the big questions," while cloaked in the most ordinary and intimate of interactions.

While thinking about this review, it occurred to me that "Wayne's College of Beauty" can be viewed, in part, as a modern man's journey through the "Seven Stages of Life." Some of the poems reach back to when his children were young, such as "My Daughter's Morning," "her sparkle is as the edge of new/ice on leafed pools, while I/am soggy, tepid; old toast." (This poem, as well as "Patriarch of the Lake," has been featured by Garrison Keillor on "Writer's Almanac.") In "Longer," a teenage daughter struggles with her questions about death as she talks with her father in the middle of the night. "The girl/glistens, a rosy dolphin riding/swells of seamless youth and health,/yet she worries.../If sleep has an opposite, it is/not waking, but the imagination." At the other end of the scale are poems that capture, with equal honesty and perception, the confusion, loss, and tender sweetness of a parent aging. I think of my own mother as I read "The Lessons": "Fathers diminish like fallen snow."

And then there is the voice of "something else" (knowledge? experience? imagination?) present in the very last poem of the book, "What the Wing Says," perhaps Swanger's greatest, and most mysterious. How simply it appears to speak: "Dismiss the grocer of your soul./Nothing important can be weighed." But how far it wants to take us -- I almost said "unimaginably" far, but that's the opposite of what the poem is asking. "Does the future move in only one direction?/Think how roots find their way, how hair spreads/on the pillow, how watercolors give birth to light./Think how dangerous I am, because of what I offer you."

David Swanger may be formally retired from teaching, but his lessons keep coming every time we open his books.

Here is a poet who has not received the acclaim he so deserves. Yes he has some respectable awards... he is, afterall, a professor Emeritus at UCSC ...and a Harvard grad; but why hasnt the poetic community realized his genius and bestowed more honors upon this man; especially when reading this book... I suppose its true that many great poets arent discovered until they die... but if you want to catch him in life... I suggest you read this NOW. Swanger's poems are a gift to us; embrace that gift.

This is a fantastic book about Huskies football history. I am a big husky fan and I learned a ton about former players from Greg's book. It gave a lot of really neat insight into their opinions of the program and their personal experiences. This is a MUST READ for any Washington Huskies fan! Thanks for writing a great book, Greg !!!

If you are a bonafide Husky football fan, you must read this book. Tells the players inner thoughts and what motivated them. His players are unanimous in describing Coach Don James as a man of integrity, loyalty and are proud to be part of his legacy.
K. Wong, M.D.

I was at NCSU in 1983 and reading this book was like reliving that dream season. Well written and engaging!

It's hard to find a book about the Pack that is bad. It's a good read for any true Wolfpack fan --a good trip down memory lane. The picture section in the middle of the book is nicely done and a good addition to the text. Would recommend for any NC State fan!

In this elegantly written biography, Maynard explores Woodrow Wilson's time at Princeton (as a student, faculty member, and university president), detailing the triumphs and defeats that did so much to shape the future president's personality and perspective. To anyone interested in Woodrow Wilson...or Princeton...or the history of higher education in America for that matter, Maynard's book is indispensable.

Dr. Maynard (on the faculty as Lecturer of Johns Hopkins as well as Princeton at the time his book was released) has written one of the more truthful, composite portraits of Woodrow Wilson. It is refreshing to see the depth of research, with references to older historians and Princeton alumni, who verify Wilson as the uncompromising and egotistical college president. The damage that Wilson did to Princeton continues to this day. And not only is it revealed that Wilson and his father were "a good hater" (to quote them both) but his first wife Ellen also had a terrible temper; and there is plenty of evidence.

I was disappointed that the author did not go into Mary Peck's affair with Wilson more thoroughly; he also completely ignored the affair Wilson had with a Princeton professor's wife. Maynard's treatment of Wilson's doctor, Cary Grayson, was too kind; Grayson was a major player with Wilson's second wife, Edith, in the cover-up of Woodrow's almost total incapacity as president, due to his last stroke. Although, because of his art education at Princeton and the University of Delaware, he devoted many interesting pages to the proposed architectural design of the Quads.

Nevertheless, the book is a page-turner. It almost reads like a novel...because in this case, the truth about Wilson seems almost stranger than fiction. This book brings more evidence to light about the truth of Wilson as a racist, a liar, a man who could not compromise, a man with tunnel vision, a man who didn't know how to raise money for the college, and a man who constantly bickered with the trustees over the Quads and almost everything else he wanted to introduce to the campus. He would not compromise on any issue, whether academic or political. And he couldn't keep friends; as his own father was quoted as saying, "I never had a friend who was faithful to me." Like father, like son.

We see a picture of Wilson living with a tortured ego in a psychological "twilight zone" who could not be a friend with anyone who disagreed with him about anything. He had an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a craving for domination in everything.

The author, as a former student of Princeton himself (B.A. in Art History), covers the preceptorial system Wilson brought to Princeton, which is still advertised on their website, as Wilson's "brainchild," although I do not believe it facilitates excellence in education; it pressures students to "BS" their way through the course material. And the Eating Clubs Wilson opposed, are still there, albeit, they are now co-ed and less in number. Wilson wouldn't agree, but fraternities would have had a better socializing effect on students than these Clubs.

I wondered if the author would still have a job at Princeton after such a tour de force. So I was not surprised that he ended the book with what amounts to a three paragraph apology for Wilson, in which he attempts to vindicate Wilson's twisted educational vision for Princeton, by stating "Princeton University itself has finally come around to the blueprint that Wilson put forward one hundred years ago..." The author closed his book saying that "history would prove him (Wilson) right," confirms the author's vested interest as a former student and now on the Princeton faculty. A good read, but with that vested interest, one has to wonder if all the drama and fireworks presented for the previous 340 pages, is a chimera covering his own loyalty to Princeton...just putting a good face on Wilson's rocky road from Princeton to the presidency.

I teach English as a Second Language in Taiwan. Unlike most books about linguistics, this book helped me understand "what happens when people talk", and that has made me a more effective teacher. I re-read it several times a year to keep its insights fresh in my mind. Each re-reading reveals new depths of understanding. In spite of being almost 10 years old, I still regard as the best of its kind.

I've been on a kick recently to read all the books I can get my hands on pertaining to language. I found this one in the philosophy/linguistics section of my local bookstore. It subsequently sat in my "to-read" pile (which now numbers around 1,462 books) for a few months. When I finally picked it up I was floored by the amount of fascinating information it contained about English and its similarities to the world's other languages. The rather surprising but clearly correct conclusion of the book is that no matter how weird, foreign, alien, or just bizarre other languages may sound to us, human languages all share the same basic means and mechanics of expression! None are more inherently "difficult" than others, as is borne out by the ease with which infants in every speech community of the world pick up their native language with the same ease and celerity. The author also blows to smithereens the notion that English or any other language is "better" or "more expressive" than any other, and demonstrates that English prevails as the world's preferred language largely as the result of geopolitical factors, rather than its "superiority". In fact, whether a group of people speak English, Ancient Greek, Swahili, Apache, Russian, Chinese, Egyptian, Burmese, Polynesian, French, Latin or Eskimo language , every one of these speech communities possesses a tongue capable of rich expression, poetic nuance, literature, subtlety, and flights of imagination. Where they differ is that each one, is custom-suited to the physical realities and the cultural traditions of the particular place, and represent the best means for the populace there to communicate and transact business. So much for the notion that when European explorers "discovered" indigenous communities in their journeys, that the natives spoke "primitive" tongues! This implication, with the benefit of modern linguistic knowledge and hindsight, was simply racist and chauvinistic. Did I mention that this book is written in a lively and entertaining manner, and is great fun and a very entertaining read? Well it is! I also very much enjoyed the chapters about verbal dueling, meta-language, and attempts to teach language to animals. If you are a word buff, I recommend this book to you wholeheartedly. Enjoy!