Synopses & Reviews
When it was published in 1968, a year noted for historic student protests on campuses across the country,
The American University spoke in Jacques Barzun's characteristically wise and lucid voice about what colleges and universities were really meant to do—and how they actually worked. Drawing on a lifetime of extraordinary accomplishment as a teacher, administrator, and scholar, Barzun here describes the immense demands placed on the university by its competing constituencies—students, faculty, administrators, alumni, trustees, and the political world around it all.
"American higher education is fortunate to have had a scholar and intellectual of Jacques Barzun's stature give so many years of service to the daily bread-and-butter details of running a great university and then share his reflections with us in a literate, humane, and engaging book."—Charles Donovan, America
Table of Contents
Introduction
Preface
Introductory
1. The New University
2. Scholars in Orbit
3. Students Or Victims?
4. Administrators Above and Below
5. Friends, Donors, Enemies
6. Poverty in the Midst of Plenty
7. The Higher Bankruptcy
8. The Choice Ahead
Appendices
Notes
Index