Pioneer: A History of the Johns Hopkins University [Paperback]

Hugh Hawkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2002

"This history of the early years of the Johns Hopkins University is much more than the story of the establishment and development of one of the most distinguished institutions of higher education in the United States. The book deals with a period of re-thinking and re-assessment in higher education ...Many of the fundamental problems of educational principle ...were tackled at this stage of the University's history and the book deals fully with the questions of conscience and of politics which were involved in their solution." -International Association of Universities Bulletin

Editorial Reviews

Review

Professor Hawkins' scholarship is beautiful, his style is clear, his ideas are exciting, and the work has perspective and breadth.

(Maryland Historical Magazine )

Dr. Hawkins... has brought real art to his work so that the men, their ideas and their varying skills are portrayed with the insight that one hopes for from novelists and biographers. The result is an engrossing book. There is not a dull chapter in it.

(Baltimore Evening Sun )

This history of the early years of the Johns Hopkins University is much more than the story of the establishment and development of one of the most distinguished institutions of higher education in the United States. The book deals with a period of re-thinking and re-assessment in higher education... Many of the fundamental problems of educational principle... were tackled at this stage of the University's history and the book deals fully with the questions of conscience and of politics which were involved in their solution.

(International Association of Universities Bulletin )

About the Author

Hugh Hawkins is professor emeritus of history at Amherst College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801869331
• ISBN-13: 978-0801869334
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #888,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars How to build a university with more brains than money, August 22, 2007

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This review is from: Pioneer: A History of the Johns Hopkins University (Paperback)

Some universities start off life rich and stay that way. The University of Chicago, Duke and Stanford certainly fall into that category. But a few of our distinguished research universities started life rich, but due to poor financial planning, untimely economic depressions or restrictive (and reluctant) boards of trustees fell into financial exigency relatively quickly. Rice and (certainly) Johns Hopkins fall into that category. The early history of Johns Hopkins is the story of riches to rags, but not without a continuing dedication to academic excellence.

Dr. Hawkins tells the story here, in somewhat crusty neo-Victorian language, but tells it well nonetheless. What makes this book so good is its truly sweeping coverage and intertwining of all the characters involved. It's really quite good, in a genre of extremely weak histories. Perhaps more than anything, this book is remarkable for describing the way a university president was once truly the captain of the ship. We'll not see many more Daniel Coit Gilmans.