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 places this durable institution in sweeping historical
perspective. In particular, James Axtell focuses on the ways that the best
American universities took on Continental influences, developing into the
finest expressions of the modern university and enviable models for kindred
institutions worldwide. Despite hand-wringing reports to the contrary, the
venerable university continues to renew itself, becoming ever more
indispensable to society in the United States and beyond.
Born in Europe, the university did not mature
in America until the late nineteenth century. Once its heirs proliferated from
coast to coast, their national role expanded greatly during World War II and
the Cold War. Axtell links the legacies of European universities and
Tudor-Stuart Oxbridge to nine colonial and hundreds of pre–Civil War colleges,
and delves into how U.S. universities were shaped by Americans who studied in
German universities and adapted their discoveries to domestic conditions and
goals. The graduate school, the PhD, and the research imperative became and
remain the hallmarks of the American university system and higher education
institutions around the globe.
A rich exploration of the historical lineage of
today's research universities, Wisdom's Workshopexplains the
reasons for their ascendancy in America and their continued international
preeminence.
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