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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Important Book,
By Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: What's Happened to the Humanities? (Hardcover)
Though now somewhat dated (the fervor over Theory has now abated to a considerable degree), this is a superb set of essays on the title's question. Edited by a distinguished scholar who has also served as a graduate dean, Alvin Kernan, the volume includes essays by such important commentators as Denis Donoghue, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Frank Kermode, Christopher Ricks and Louis Menand.
All of the essays are worth reading. I found particularly useful Lynn Hunt's piece on the impact of demographics on the humanities (which is filled with interesting and important data on enrollments, budgets and curricula); John D'Arms article on the decline of funding for humanities research (his piece and Hunt's being frequently cited elsewhere); Louis Menand's study of the demise of disciplinary authority, Gertrude Himmelfarb's mini-history of Theory and David Bromwich's essay on politicization. There is also an appendix containing a useful set of tables on baccalaureate and Ph.D. production from 1966-1993. Many of the essays explore issues in American educational history above and beyond specific matters affecting the humanities, e.g., the etiology of vocationalism. This is an important book for everyone interested in the plight of the humanities in American higher education. |
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What's Happened to the Humanities? by Alvin B. Kernan (Hardcover - January 17, 1997)
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