Synopses & Reviews
One of the most influential institutions of higher learning in the world, the University of Chicago has a powerful and distinct identity, and its name is synonymous with intellectual rigor. With nearly 170,000 alumni living and working in more than 150 countries, its impact is far-reaching and long-lasting.
With The University of Chicago: A History, John W. Boyer, Dean of the College since 1992, presents a deeply researched and comprehensive history of the university. Boyer has mined the archives, exploring the schoolandrsquo;s complex and sometimes controversial past to set myth and hearsay apart from fact. The result is a fascinating narrative of a legendary academic community, one that brings to light the nature of its academic culture and curricula, the experience of its students, its engagement with Chicagoandrsquo;s civic community, and the conditions that have enabled the university to survive and sustain itself through decades of change.
Boyerandrsquo;s extensive research shows that the University of Chicagoandrsquo;s identity is profoundly interwoven with its history, and that history is unique in the annals of American higher education. After a little-known false start in the mid-nineteenth century, it achieved remarkable early successes, yet in the 1950s it faced a collapse of undergraduate enrollment, which proved fiscally debilitating for decades. Throughout, the university retained its fierce commitment to a distinctive, intense academic culture marked by intellectual merit and free debate, allowing it to rise to international acclaim. Today it maintains a strong obligation to serve the larger community through its connections to alumni, to the city of Chicago, and increasingly to its global community.
Published to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the university, this must-have reference will appeal to alumni and anyone interested in the history of higher education of the United States.
Review
andldquo;The question before us is how to become one in spirit, not necessarily in opinion.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;If the first faculty had met in a tent, this still would have been a great university.andrdquo;
Synopsis
and#160;Many books have been written about the University of Chicago over its 120-year history, but most of them focus on the intellectual environment, favoring its great thinkers and their many breakthroughs. Yet for the students and scholars who live and work here, the physical universityandmdash;its stately buildings and beautiful groundsandmdash;forms an important part of its character.
Building Ideas: An Architectural Guide to the University of Chicagoand#160;explores the environment that has supported more than a century of exceptional thinkers. This photographic guide traces the evolution of campus architecture from the universityandrsquo;s founding in 1890 to its plans for the twenty-first century.
When William Rainey Harper, the universityandrsquo;s first president, and the trustees decided to build a set of Gothic quadrangles, they created a visual link to European precursors and made a bold statement about the future of higher education in the United States. Since then the university has regularly commissioned forward-thinking architects to design buildings that expandandmdash;or explodeandmdash;traditional ideals while redefining the contemporary campus.
Full of panoramic photographs and exquisite details,and#160;Building Ideasand#160;features the work of architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Ives Cobb, Holabird and Roche, Eero Saarinen, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Netsch, Ricardo Legorreta, Rafael Viandntilde;oly, Candeacute;sar Pelli, Helmut Jahn, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The guide also includes guest commentaries by prominent architects and other notable public figures. It is the perfect collection for Chicago alumni and students, Hyde Park residents and visitors, and anyone inspired by the institutional ideas and aspirations of architecture.
About the Author
Jay Pridmore is the author or coauthor of many books, including Chicago Architecture and Design, University of Chicago: The Campus Guide, Shanghai: The Architecture of Chinaandrsquo;s Great Urban Center, and The American Bicycle. He has worked as a journalist in Chicago and has written extensively about architecture.and#160;Tom Rossiter is an architectural and nature photographer and filmmaker as well as a registered architect and fellow in the American Institute of Architects. He was a founding member of Mcclier, worked as a senior designer for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and interned with Charles and Ray Eames. Rossiterandrsquo;s work has been nationally commissioned by leading architects and institutions.and#160;His images have been exhibited in solo shows throughout Chicago.