The Marketplace of Ideas Reform and Resistance in the American University

by Menand, Louis

• ISBN13: 9780393339161
• ISBN10: 0393339165
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-06
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

The publication of The Marketplace of Ideas has precipitated a lively debate about the future of the American university system: what makes it so hard for colleges to decide which subjects are required? Why are so many academics against the concept of interdisciplinary studies? From his position at the heart of academe, Harvard professor Louis Menand thinks he's found the answer. Despite the vast social changes and technological advancements that have revolutionized the society at large, general principles of scholarly organization, curriculum, and philosophy have remained remarkably static. Sparking a long-overdue debate about the future of American education, The Marketplace of Ideas argues that twenty-first-century professors and students are essentially trying to function in a nineteenth-century system, and that the resulting conflict threatens to overshadow the basic pursuit of knowledge and truth.

Author Biography

Louis Menand is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English at Harvard University. He is the author of The Metaphysical Club, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in History, and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 2001.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 13
The Problem of General Education	p. 21
The Humanities Revolution	p. 59
Interdisciplinarity and Anxiety	p. 93
Why Do Professors All Think Alike?	p. 127
Conclusion	p. 157
Acknowledgments	p. 159
Index	p. 163
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