Synopses & Reviews
In 1917 it was still possible for the University of Oklahomaandrsquo;s annual Catalogue to include a roster of every studentandrsquo;s name and hometown. A compact and close-knit community, those 2,500 students and their 130 professors studied and taught at a respectable (though small, relatively uncomplicated, and rather insular) regional university. During the following third of a century, the school underwent changes so profound that their cumulative effect amounted to a transformation. This second volume in David Levyandrsquo;s projected three-part history chronicles these changes, charting the Universityandrsquo;s course through one of the most dramatic periods in American history.
Following Oklahomaandrsquo;s flagship school through decades that saw six U.S. presidents, eleven state governors, and five university presidents, Volume 2 of The University of Oklahoma: A History documents the institutionandrsquo;s evolution into a complex, diverse, and multifaceted seat of learning. By 1950 enrollment had increased fivefold, and by every measureandmdash;the number of colleges and campus buildings, degrees awarded and programs offered, volumes in the library, faculty publications, out-of-state and foreign students in attendanceandmdash;the University was on its way to becoming a world-class educational institution.
Levy weaves together human and institutional history as he describes the schoolandrsquo;s remarkableandmdash;sometimes remarkably difficultandmdash;development in response to unprecedented factors: two world wars, the cultural shifts of the 1920s, the Great Depression, the rise of the petroleum industry, the farm crisis and Dust Bowl, the emergence of new technologies, and new political and social forces such as those promoting and resisting racial justice.
National and world events, state politics, campus leadership, the ever-changing student body: in triumph and defeat, in small successes and grand accomplishments, all come to varied and vibrant life in this second installment of the definitive history of Oklahomaandrsquo;s storied center of learning.
Synopsis
Following Oklahomaandrsquo;s flagship school through decades that saw six U.S. presidents, eleven state governors, and five university presidents, Volume 2 of The University of Oklahoma: A History documents the institutionandrsquo;s evolution into a complex, diverse, and multifaceted seat of learning.
About the Author
David W. Levy is retired as the Irene and Julian J. Rothbaum Professor of Modern American History and David Ross Boyd Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of Herbert Croly of the New Republic: The Life and Thought of an American Progressive and Mark Twain: The Divided Mind of Americaandrsquo;s Best-Loved Writer and coeditor of seven volumes of the letters of Supreme Court justice Louis D. Brandeis.