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Pioneer: A History of the Johns Hopkins University

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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.