President Eisenhower originally included academic in the draft of his landmark, oft-quoted speech on the military-industrial-complex. Giroux tells why Eisenhower saw the academy as part of the famous complex--and how his warning was vitally prescient for 21st-century America. His newest book details the sweeping post-9/11 assault being waged on the academy by militarization, corporatization, and right-wing fundamentalists who increasingly view critical thought itself as a threat to the dominant political order. Giroux argues that the university has become a handmaiden of the Pentagon and corporate interests, it has lost its claim to independence and critical learning and has compromised its role as a democratic public sphere. And yet, in spite of its present embattled status and the inroads made by corporate power, the defense industries, and the right wing extremists, Giroux defends the university as one of the few public spaces left capable of raising important questions and educating students to be critical and engaged agents and concluded by making a strong case for reclaiming it as a democratic public sphere.
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I know of no more acute a commentator on higher education in the United States today. Henry Giroux's passion for education fires his powerful critique of the university, as it becomes more and more in thrall to big money and to the military. While Giroux's analysis is profound and unsparing, his book concludes with an imaginative strategy to transform the university into a truly democratic institution. --Howard Zinn
Henry Giroux is a tribune for democracy. He sees universities as democratic public spheres that must be defended in the repressive aftermath of 9/11. His new book is a tool we need to get the job done. --Ira Shor, CUNY Graduate School
Henry Giroux has been like a canary in the mine of U.S. culture when he sends an alert, you know something is really amiss. If you have worked or studied in one of our universities, this is essential reading. --Toby Miller, author of Cultural Citizenship
Henry Giroux is a tribune for democracy. He sees universities as democratic public spheres that must be defended in the repressive aftermath of 9/11. His new book is a tool we need to get the job done. --Ira Shor, CUNY Graduate School
Henry Giroux has been like a canary in the mine of U.S. culture when he sends an alert, you know something is really amiss. If you have worked or studied in one of our universities, this is essential reading. --Toby Miller, author of Cultural Citizenship
About the Author
Henry A. Giroux currently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department. He has published numerous books and articles and his most recent books include The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex (2007) and Against the Terror of Neoliberalism (2008). The Toronto Star has named Henry Giroux one of the twelve Canadians changing the way we think! Read the article here: Twelve Canadians Changing the Way We Think
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By D. morris
Format:Paperback
Henry Giroux's latest is a crucial contribution to our understanding of US culture, US politics and US education in an increasingly militarized society.
"The University in Chains" is a stunning tour-de-force that rigorously examines the multi-tiered military, corporate and right-wing assaults on the university and culture. Giroux writes with a clarity and urgency that is riveting; his impassioned concern for education, human rights and meaningful democracy is inspiring; and, importantly, his critical insights into how we can break the chains and transform the university into a substantive democratic public space committed to providing students and citizens with tools and skills to address our most pressing problems are empowering and necessary.
The book is essential reading for everyone inside and outside the academy concerned with the increasing and foreboding militarization of the world, the corporate takeover of every corner of human life, and the narrowing ideological impositions of right-wing "super-patriot" fundamentalists. The book moves crucially from critique to a call for intervention and is therefore indispensable for those attentive to the need for fighting back, as well as those interested in matters of pedagogy, public education, social justice, human rights, and producing a meaningful democratic vision, culture and practice.
The section on "The Necessity of Critical Pedagogy" is an invigorating and powerful statement that brings much depth and meaning to the practice and theory of critical pedagogy. It will help those both familiar and unfamiliar with critical pedagogy gain a deeper grasp, and one hopes, commitment.
If you are a student, teacher, professor, or citizen READ THIS BOOK carefully, and share it widely. It is a vital contribution toward a path to a more decent and meaningful human existence for all.
"The University in Chains" is a stunning tour-de-force that rigorously examines the multi-tiered military, corporate and right-wing assaults on the university and culture. Giroux writes with a clarity and urgency that is riveting; his impassioned concern for education, human rights and meaningful democracy is inspiring; and, importantly, his critical insights into how we can break the chains and transform the university into a substantive democratic public space committed to providing students and citizens with tools and skills to address our most pressing problems are empowering and necessary.
The book is essential reading for everyone inside and outside the academy concerned with the increasing and foreboding militarization of the world, the corporate takeover of every corner of human life, and the narrowing ideological impositions of right-wing "super-patriot" fundamentalists. The book moves crucially from critique to a call for intervention and is therefore indispensable for those attentive to the need for fighting back, as well as those interested in matters of pedagogy, public education, social justice, human rights, and producing a meaningful democratic vision, culture and practice.
The section on "The Necessity of Critical Pedagogy" is an invigorating and powerful statement that brings much depth and meaning to the practice and theory of critical pedagogy. It will help those both familiar and unfamiliar with critical pedagogy gain a deeper grasp, and one hopes, commitment.
If you are a student, teacher, professor, or citizen READ THIS BOOK carefully, and share it widely. It is a vital contribution toward a path to a more decent and meaningful human existence for all.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By T. Teater
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read about this this book in another book and went ahead and bought this one. I would recommend it. The author shows the relationships among the military, corporations and academia. I found much of the situation described by the author, disturbing and at its heart, certainly not conducive to academic freedom. Essentially the author contends that the military and corporations through the use of money and pressure, are taking advantage of the education funding crisis to bend academia to purposes other than a traditional liberal education and open research. In addition, he covered some of the latest attacks on academia and academic freedom of the Christian Nationalist, religious right or what ever you want to call it. To be sure this is written from a left/liberal perspective but the points made should be seriously considered by anyone interested in the place of the university in society.
7 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Henry Giroux has written a book for the ages by daftly examining the impacts and effects of history on America today. Framing his argument with the prophetic words of Dwight Eisenhower's farewell speech to the American public, Giroux details the thorough and heinous complicities of current practices and policies throughout the American higher education system in conjunction with those of the military industry. The dubiousness of the publicly-funded University of Illinois's for-profit campus is given new light through Giroux's famous analysis of the new neoliberalism griping colleges and universities, particularly in light of the ongoing terror of the Bush Administration's Iraq War. Perhaps most powerful are the radical implications Giroux concludes: rather than simply influencing college research or widening the gap between the haves and have nots in America today, the military-industrial-academic complex is destroying the very foundations of American democracy. We have no choice rather than respond; Giroux gives us more than ample reason and recommendations for what to do next.
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