Overview

"When universities began in the Middle Ages, Pope Gregory IX described them as ""wisdom's special workshop."" He could not have foreseen how far these institutions would travel and develop. Tracing the eight-hundred-year evolution of the elite research university from its roots in medieval Europe to its remarkable incarnation today, Wisdom's Workshop"

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9780691247588

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One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2016 Honorable Mention for the 2017 PROSE Award in Education Theory, Association of American Publishers In this time of anti-intellectualism--whether technocratic or populist--we don't need more smug disruptors. We need more hopeful builders. They will remind us of the democratic aspirations of pragmatic liberal education while recalling that the ambitions of our finest universities help fulfill the dreams of our best selves as a people. ---Michael Roth, Wall Street Journal Authoritative, panoramic. . . . A thoroughly researched and vigorous history of an institution that has 'gained new vigor and proliferated progeny not only in the United States but around the globe.' * Kirkus * At a time in which colleges and universities have come under sustained attack . . . it may well be useful to explain to those outside the academy how American institutions became preeminent and why they continue to play an essential role at the center of modernity's infrastructure. In Wisdom's Workshop, Axtell does just that. Drawing on the vast literature on higher education, he provides an informative and engaging . . . account of the evolution of the research university, from its origins in England, Italy, and France in the Middle Ages to the emergence of the 'multiversity' in the United States in the last half century. ---Glenn Altschuler, Huffington Post This is an enjoyable and well-informed account of some of the most significant universities in the world. ---David Willetts, Times Higher Education In his new book . . . Wisdom's Workshop: The Rise of the Modern University . . . [James] Axtell traces the U.S. university system all the way back to its Medieval roots. It turns out universities have changed quite a bit in the last eight centuries, both in form and function, adapting to their times. And some shifts are just as radical as the ones we face today. ---Byrd Pinkerton, NPR No one seeking a newsy update of American higher education can ignore this book. . . . Wisdom's Workshop is readable and worthy. ---Edwin Yoder, Weekly Standard James Axtell, one of the field's most authoritative historians, provides this handsome addition to the growing literature on the U.S. university. . . . This book deserves to be read by specialists and generalists alike. * Choice * James Axtell adds to his prodigious scholarly output with yet another outstanding publication. A pleasurable and informative guide to whatever he chooses to discuss, his latest work is true to form and is justly praised by those well-acquainted with his subject and its sources. ---Sheldon Rothblatt, History of Universities

Author Information

James Axtell is the Kenan Professor of Humanities Emeritus at the College of William and Mary. His many books include The Pleasures of Academe, The Educational Legacy of Woodrow Wilson, and The Making of Princeton University (Princeton). Axtell was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.

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