Research Catalog

Title

The pleasures of academe : a celebration & defense of higher education / James Axtell.

Author

Axtell, James.

Publication

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xix, 292 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• In this book, the distinguished historian James Axtell offers a compelling defense of higher education.
• Drawing on national statistics, broad-ranging scholarship, and delightful anecdotes, Axtell reminds us of the dedication of professors and the increasing demands placed on them. He describes the professional work cycle, the evolution of scholarship in the past three decades, the importance of "habitual scholarship," and the best ways to judge a university. He discusses, with imagination and wit, the many pleasures of academic life, including intercollegiate sports, the "benign pathology" of loving and collecting books, teaching and service outside the classroom, life in college towns, and working vacations.
• Axtell persuasively confronts the major critics of higher education, arguing that they have perpetuated misunderstandings of tenure, research, teaching, curricular change, and professional politics.

Subject

• Education, Higher > United States
• College teachers > United States
• College teaching > United States
• College teachers
• College teaching
• Education, Higher
• Höheres Bildungswesen
• Hoger onderwijs
• Leerkrachten
• United States
• USA
• USA

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-283) and index.

Contents

(Mis)Understanding academic work -- Scholarship reconsidered -- twenty-five reasons to publish -- Encountering the other -- What makes a university great? -- Confessions of a bibliolater -- The making of a scholar-athlete -- Between disciplines -- Extracurriculum -- College towns -- Academic vacations.

ISBN

• 0803210493
• 9780803210493

LCCN

97051865

OCLC

• ocm38073413
• 38073413
• SCSB-8895370

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library