Customer Reviews

The Launching of Duke University, 1924-1949

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Duke is such a great university. It really is. But it also ranks high among the most self-promoting, self-obsessed institutions in the world. I expected this history to be a deviation from that norm, and it tries to be. When you stand back away from the book, however, and take a look at the underlying objective, it's what we've come to expect of Duke: Look at us! We're so damn rich that we've been able to buy ourselves into the top ranks of American research universities... but we're not in the Ivy League.

Let's be fair to the author here. It's not a bad book. The opening chapters, about how James Duke and William Few transformed Trinity College into mighty Duke University are (by far) the best in the book. The rest of the book is more about the great faculty the trustees were able to buy, or the distinguished architects they were able to retain, or the enormous amounts of tobacco money they were able to collect. The bits about William Preston Few and John Spenser Bassett are interesting. The rest is feel-good stuff for alumni, which is all too common a phenomenon in this genre. Really, the story of creating a great university from a great fortune is not as interesting as the story of leaders who have formed great institutions from limited resources. This book, unfortunately, tells the former of those two stories.

I would recommend for Dukies, but there's really not much of interest for the general reader.

I like your book because it is uplifting. Duke will probably never be my alma matter because my grades are not good enough-mea culpa. However; reading your book gives me adrenelin. I enjoy the womans and mens athletics at Duke only as an observer. In other words, I hold no grudge if Duke wereto turn ne down. But, I want to feel good. nevada and Connecticut make me sick. I love some of the Duke women players. I hold aMasters degree,not adocterate from Harvard. I love you.