God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom' [Paperback]

William F. Buckley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1986

In 1951, a twenty-five-year old Yale graduate published his first book, which exposed the extraordinarily irresponsible educational attitude that prevailed at his alma mater. This book rocked the academic world and catapulted its young author, William F. Buckley Jr., into the public spotlight.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Without God and Man at Yale, one could fairly say, the conservative movement would not exist today. Soon after winning national attention with this controversial polemic, William F. Buckley Jr. deployed his youth, charm, and intellect to unite a motley crew of cantankerous intellectuals into a viable conservative movement. Less than a generation after Lionel Trilling famously opined that ‘in the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition,’ Buckley had in large part caused the liberal consensus to unravel.”
—From the new foreword to the 50th Anniversary Edition

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; 50th edition (January 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089526692X
• ISBN-13: 978-0895266927
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 142 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Buckley Classic, June 25, 2003

By 

Dr. W. G. Covington, Jr. (Edinboro, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom' (Paperback)

This seminal work of one of the most courageous conservative thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries laid the groundwork on which numerous other media voices built. He descrbes how it all started when he was an undergraduate at Yale University from 1946-1950. He writes from his conscious. Buckley is precise in describing how he felt traditional American values were being ignored, undermined, and distorted by academics. He makes his case by citing specific classes, instructors, and textbooks. In the revised edition he brings readers up to date on how critics and the public responded when the book originally came out. Buckley earned the right to be the quintessential role model for conservatives because of his courage and gift of clearly communicating his argument in a logical manner. There are no ad hominem fallacies here or in any of his writings. He confronts isses head on. He even discusses his motive for writing the book by saying it is tied to his love for his alma mater and the country in general. By that he means his desire is for constructive change. It is in pointing out the errors that he hopes to achieve the positive resolutions he seeks. Buckley has remained a voice worthy of an audience in the marketplace of ideas for decades. This is the book that launched him and it is worth reading at any point in time.

99 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Common Sense View of Education Too Profound for the Elite, October 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom' (Paperback)

Superbly written. Easy to understand. And full of common sense. It was probably its "common sense" that caused liberal academicians of Yale and other prestigious "institutes of higher learning" to reject Buckley's assessment and recommendations. For the "wisdom" was (and is) that if it's not sufficiently profound and complex, then it cannot be relevant or useful. Yet, Buckley's common sense suggestions for reforming the methods of education were (and are) right on target. By rejecting what he said out of hand, the stage was set for post-modern relativism that is rampant at "institutes of higher learning" as we enter the 21st century. A lot has happened since Buckley wrote this book, including the discrediting of collectivist ideologies and the collapse of Communism. But despite the passage of time, Buckley's words still ring true because they are rooted in conservative principles - principles based on the constancy of man's nature. My only regret is that since the writing of this book, Buckley has embraced the "snobbish" dialect of the english language. Consequently, his more recent books repel the simple man in search of common sense. Pity too since Buckley still dispenses much common sense.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Dated, But a Genuine Classic, December 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom' (Paperback)

Some might find it hard to imagine a time when it was shocking to find that students in an Ivy League university were being taught, even sometimes indoctrinated, by socialists and atheists. Today that's about as amazing as the news that water flows downhill.

Mr. Buckley has been right about most things for the last half century. He was very young when he wrote this book, and it was a sign of even better things to come.