Synopses & Reviews
The authors' innovative approach to the presentation of data, prominently featured in the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe, is a welcome change from the traditional form of dry statistics, tables, and charts.
Here is an essential reference book which will be enthusiastically welcomed by all those interested in American higher education. This innovative approach to the presentation of educational data is a welcome change from the traditional portrayal of such data in the form of dry statistics, tables, and charts. The striking visual approach provides the reader with a clear, concise understanding of higher education in this country and a comprehensive overview of current trends. By seeing the data graphically portrayed, even a casual reader can develop a broad understanding of basic information in a relatively short period of time.
From the masses of information that are regularly collected and compiled by the many agencies and associations concerned with higher education, the authors have carefully chosen the most important data and those that highlight the spatial patterns. The Atlas clearly shows the influence of the 50 separate and distinct systems that make up American higher education.
Moving beyond the relatively simplistic portrayals of statistical data found in existing fact books, The Atlas of American Higher Education presents dozens of maps on such topics as enrollment; students and faculty; cultural diversity; specialized institutions; two year colleges; outcomes of higher education; student costs and student aid; and financing of higher education, as well as general background and summary chapters. The Atlas includes balanced coverage of both public and private, two- and four-year institutions. In addition to portraying data by state, the Atlas portrays basic underlying demographic variables such as population density and distribution by age groups.
The Atlas of American Higher Education is an indispensable text for college and university administrators, students and faculty in master's and doctoral programs in the field of higher education, as well as anyone concerned with educational policy. Geographers, those interested in American studies, and other social scientists will find the Atlas useful in courses that deal with social, cultural, and demographic issues.
Review
"A highly useful tool...A handy reference for a wide audience interested in the statistical and spatial dimensions of higher education." -Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
Review
"For providing clear, useful maps showing the relative state of enrollment, types of degrees conferred, minority enrollment, educational attainment, tuition costs, etc. among the states, the atlas deserves an `A.'" -Wilson Library Bulletin,
Synopsis
In the mid-1980s Mikhail Gorbachev's political and economic reforms promised a relaxation of tensions between the U.S.S.R. and the United States without disturbing the basic balance of power in Europe established after the Second World War. Then came the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the vast democratic revolution that swept the Soviet empire, creating a power vacuum east of Berlin. Could such an upheaval have been a natural and logical extension of the course of reform that Gorbachev began plotting in 1985?
Gorbachev's Revolution argues persuasively that the end of Communism was never the goal of the Soviet leader but rather the unintended result of an intense and many-faceted struggle for power. Anthony D'Agostino demonstrates that the pervasive image of stable in-system reform in fact ignored evidence from history. Succession struggles in the U.S.S.R. were generally wars of ideas in which the victors got their way by challenging their opponents' interpretations of the past.
Through political memoirs, newspaper accounts, and historical documents, Gorbachev's Revolution demonstrates once again that revolutionaries change the world not only according to their own designs but also according to the world's designs on them.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 356-379) and index.
About the Author
Anthony D'Agostino is Professor of History at San Francisco State University and author of Soviet Succession Struggles: From Lenin to Gorbachev.