The American College and University: A History [Paperback]

Frederick Rudolph (Author), John R. Thelin (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0820312843 | ISBN-13: 978-0820312842 | Publication Date: 1990 | Edition: 2nd edition

First published in 1962, Frederick Rudolph's groundbreaking study, The American College and University, remains one of the most useful and significant works on the history of higher education in America. Bridging the chasm between educational and social history, this book was one of the first to examine developments in higher education in the context of the social, economic, and political forces that were shaping the nation at large.

Surveying higher education from the colonial era through the mid-twentieth century, Rudolph explores a multitude of issues from the financing of institutions and the development of curriculum to the education of women and blacks, the rise of college athletics, and the complexities of student life. In his foreword to this new edition, John Thelin assesses the impact that Rudolph's work has had on higher education studies. The new edition also includes a bibliographic essay by Thelin covering significant works in the field that have appeared since the publication of the first edition.

At a time when our educational system as a whole is under intense scrutiny, Rudolph's seminal work offers an important historical perspective on the development of higher education in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A tour de force . . . The general reader as well as the historian of education will find in it the interesting story of America's academic life, told with truth and originality"—Saturday Review

"An excellent book . . . easy to read and always interesting."—New York Times Book Review

"A carefully documented, well-indexed, and, to cap it, entertaining work leaving little doubt that the history of American higher education must be the most delightful story since the beginning of universities in medieval Europe."—American Behavioral Scientist

About the Author

Frederick Rudolph is Mark Hopkins Professor of History Emeritus at Williams College, where he was chair of the American Studies Program from 1971 to 1980.  John R. Thelin is University Research Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Kentucky.

Product Details

• Paperback: 563 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press; 2nd edition edition (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820312843
• ISBN-13: 978-0820312842
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An in-depth study of the history of American higher educatio, February 4, 1998

By 

K.B. Melear ([e-mail]) (Tallahassee, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American College and University: A History (Paperback)

Rudolph's study of the history of American higher education is considered a premier work in this body of knowledge. It traces the development of the American college and university from the pre-revolution seminary through today's large, multi-line land grant and private instituions and provides insight into the people and events which shaped these institutions and our country. A must for any historian or education scholar.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A witty and graceful narrative, January 13, 2001

By 

R. J. O'Hara - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The American College and University: A History (Paperback)

Frederick Rudolph is a master of graceful historical narrative, and this classic account of the development of American higher education should be on the shelf of everyone who teaches in a college or university. From heart-breaking stories of college buildings that burned down before they were completed, to the history of liberal education, to arguments over importance of the extracurriculum, to anecdotes of nineteenth-century professors imported from Germany who found themselves chasing after students with stolen turkeys ("Ach, all dis for two tousand dollars!"), Rudolph will delight you and educate you all at the same time. This is a volume not to be missed.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent through (about) 1900, then weak, August 19, 2008

By 

Jon L. Albee "Faulkner Wannabe" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The American College and University: A History (Paperback)

Both of you who have read any of my other reviews about college and university history books know that I like to gripe about the lack of academic quality in this genre, particularly regarding the histories of individual institutions. This book is different. It passes the test.

For the story of how American higher education evolved from tiny rustic roots into the world-leading, mega-institution it became by the late 19th century, this book is a joy, and the justified leader. Its rendering of the critically important evolution of institutions from local sectarian academies to colleges (after the Revolution) and from colleges to research universities (after the Civil War) is both essential and superb reading. American history told without this important social component is incomplete. We ARE our colleges. That's why we love them so much.

Rudolph's "struggling hilltop college" thesis has long been superseded by more sophisticated scholarship, as we know that our earliest colleges were far from the tiny, decrepit, under-supported institutions we quaintly recall. A reader can easily misunderstand the importance of a small college by simply assuming that enrollment figures tell the whole story. Rudolph makes that mistake. William & Mary was always a tiny institution by modern (and contemporary) standards. Does that, in any way, diminish its profound impact on American (and world) history? When Webster argued for Dartmouth before the Supreme Count in 1817, how many students did the College enroll? You get the idea. Before 1900, size really didn't matter.

Rudolph's conclusion that the rise of Jacksonian Democracy, in place of Hamiltonian Federalism, created a "crisis" in American higher education is just plain wrong, and a typical New England perspective. Institutions simply evolved to represent the changes in the society. Before 1860, Yale, North Carolina and Virginia displayed prosperity and excellence. Rudolph's book is a product of his time and place. Henry Adams would have loved this book.

The book lets me down in two areas: First, there are no illustrations of any kind. Second, the author ignores the rapid advancement of serious higher education away from the East during the 20th century. This is very much a Massachusetts-centric view of things, which was eroding rapidly by the time the first edition appeared in 1962. As people migrate, so go their attendant institutions.