A study of Wesleyan University in connection with economic, religious, urban and educational developments in 19th century America. Potts places Wesleyan's history in contexts that illuminate the dynamics of institutional change and contribute perspectives on America's colleges, culture and society.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"David Potts's superb history of Wesleyan ... highlights the complex dynamic that has lain behind much of Wesleyan's development. Institutional change has been driven not just by an internal quest for improvement but also by the perceived needs and expectations of the larger culture.... Potts's success in locating Wesleyan's experience in the larger institutional and social development of the nation makes this book especially illuminating." -- Wesleyan, Richard Buel, Jr.
"In scope and depth, this work is a model of institutional history. Potts has an impressive command of the relevant literature and utilizes extensive archival research to tell Wesleyan's history." -- Journal of American History, Bradley J. Longfield
"In this adroit blend of institutional and cultural history, David B. Potts provides an exemplary analysis of the first eighty years of Wesleyan University. He not only describes how the college changed its president, faculty, students, and curriculum (which one expects in institutional history), but he also deftly explains its identity shifts in terms of the broad context of higher education in the United States.... Potts has given us both a thorough documentation of the early trials and successes of this small but prestigious New England college ... and a clear portrait of the rapidly changing nature of higher education from 1831 to 1910." -- New England Quarterly, William G. McLoughlin
"Many academic historians have attempted to write histories of their institutions in relation to the educational, social, and religious events of the period, but few have succeeded as well as David B. Potts in his history of Wesleyan University." -- American Historical Review, Mary Martha Thomas
"Potts ... has thought carefully about the forces that shape academic institutions. He is very clear, for example, about the ways in which nonacademic contexts have impinged upon Wesleyan.... Many themes of interest to historians of higher education in the nineteenth century are illuminated by Potts's analysis." -- History of Education Quarterly, Richard Freeland
"Potts has made one college's history both interesting to read about and an important addition to the larger historiography of American higher education." -- Church History, James Findlay
"Potts tells this absorbing story with remarkable grace and efficiency, and it is clear that he has given a great deal of thought to the problems of organization and presentation.... He has made a genuine contribution to the history of a particular school, to the history of higher education in New England and the nation, and, not least, to the work of fellow historians who are sorely in need of models for this sort of scholarly undertaking." -- Reviews in American History, David W. Levy
"Potts's eye for nuance, contradiction, and irony further enhance this exceedingly well written institutional history.... [He takes] institutional history to a new level of contextualization ... thereby demonstrating that the single institutional study continues to have a fundamental place in higher education history. Indeed, the contextual depth of Potts's work suggests that a regional or categorical history of higher education (or of an era therefrom) might even be taught inductively--around a single case study." -- History of Higher Education Annual, Roger L. Williams
"In scope and depth, this work is a model of institutional history. Potts has an impressive command of the relevant literature and utilizes extensive archival research to tell Wesleyan's history." -- Journal of American History, Bradley J. Longfield
"In this adroit blend of institutional and cultural history, David B. Potts provides an exemplary analysis of the first eighty years of Wesleyan University. He not only describes how the college changed its president, faculty, students, and curriculum (which one expects in institutional history), but he also deftly explains its identity shifts in terms of the broad context of higher education in the United States.... Potts has given us both a thorough documentation of the early trials and successes of this small but prestigious New England college ... and a clear portrait of the rapidly changing nature of higher education from 1831 to 1910." -- New England Quarterly, William G. McLoughlin
"Many academic historians have attempted to write histories of their institutions in relation to the educational, social, and religious events of the period, but few have succeeded as well as David B. Potts in his history of Wesleyan University." -- American Historical Review, Mary Martha Thomas
"Potts ... has thought carefully about the forces that shape academic institutions. He is very clear, for example, about the ways in which nonacademic contexts have impinged upon Wesleyan.... Many themes of interest to historians of higher education in the nineteenth century are illuminated by Potts's analysis." -- History of Education Quarterly, Richard Freeland
"Potts has made one college's history both interesting to read about and an important addition to the larger historiography of American higher education." -- Church History, James Findlay
"Potts tells this absorbing story with remarkable grace and efficiency, and it is clear that he has given a great deal of thought to the problems of organization and presentation.... He has made a genuine contribution to the history of a particular school, to the history of higher education in New England and the nation, and, not least, to the work of fellow historians who are sorely in need of models for this sort of scholarly undertaking." -- Reviews in American History, David W. Levy
"Potts's eye for nuance, contradiction, and irony further enhance this exceedingly well written institutional history.... [He takes] institutional history to a new level of contextualization ... thereby demonstrating that the single institutional study continues to have a fundamental place in higher education history. Indeed, the contextual depth of Potts's work suggests that a regional or categorical history of higher education (or of an era therefrom) might even be taught inductively--around a single case study." -- History of Higher Education Annual, Roger L. Williams
Review
"This is the best college history to appear in many years. Potts manages to cover all of the interesting topics, from students and football to curriculum and trustees, without ever dropping a thread in the narrative fabric. Wesleyan University is full of new insights for students of higher education, and yet at the same time it is an exceptionally good read." (Stanley N. Katz, President, American Council of Learned Societies )
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating for all concerned about higher ed, then & now,
By A Customer
This review is from: Wesleyan University, 1831-1910: Collegiate Enterprise in New England (Paperback)
Though targeted for an academic audience, this book is spellbinding for anyone interested in the history of higher education in America, not just those with a special connection to Wesleyan. David Potts interweaves institutional history and analysis of broad social trends to document the first seventy years of Wesleyan University.Among the narrative threads of interest to the general reader, Potts shows that questions of coeducation and "racial diversity" have a much longer history than one is led to believe. This reader eagerly awaits the upcoming Vol. II--1910-1969.
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