Overview

Has American higher education become a dinosaur? Why do professors all tend to think alike? What makes it so hard for colleges to decide which subjects should be required? Why do teachers and scholars find it so difficult to transcend the limits of their disciplines? Why, in short, are problems that should be easy for universities to solve so intractable? The answer, Louis Menand argues, is that the institutional structure and the educational philosophy of higher education have remained the same for one hundred years, while faculties and student bodies have radically changed and technology has drastically transformed the way people produce and disseminate knowledge. Sparking a long-overdue debate about the future of American education, The Marketplace of Ideas examines what professors and students-and all the rest of us-might be better off without while assessing what is worth saving in our traditional university institutions.

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9781400114191

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[Menand] has the rare ability to tackle complex subjects and make them comprehensible and readable. ---Philadelphia Inquirer

Author Information

Louis Menand is a professor of English at Harvard University and the author of The Metaphysical Club, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in History. Michael Prichard is a professional narrator and stage and film actor who has played several thousand characters during his career. An Audie Award winner, he has recorded well over five hundred books and has earned several AudioFile Earphones Awards. Michael was also named a Top Ten Golden Voice by SmartMoney magazine.

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