Academia's Golden Age: Universities in Massachusetts, 1945-1970

by Richard M. Freeland

Overview

The quarter century following World War II was a "golden age" for American universities. Students enrolled in record numbers, financial support was readily available, and campuses flourished in a climate of public approval. In the mid-1960s, however, the picture began to change. Student unrest and unexpected financial problems stirred apprehension within higher education and questioning by government officials and other outsiders--an atmosphere that was reinforced in the 1970s by softening student demand, rising college costs, and new concerns about institutional effectiveness. Academia's Golden Age provides the first comprehensive assessment of change among universities in the postwar years, a period that set the framework for contemporary worries about American schools at every level. Combining a general review of national trends with a close study of individual campuses, Freeland provides a fresh perspective on a vital period of educational history and a revealing look at the inner workings of the nation's academic system. Broad analytic chapters examine major developments like expansion, the rise of graduate education and research, the professionalization of the faculty, and the neglect of undergraduate teaching. Additional chapters focus on eight campuses in Massachusetts--Harvard, M.I.T., Brandeis, Tufts, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern and the University of Massachusetts--to illustrate patterns of change at research universities, college-centered universities, urban private universities, and public universities. Academia's Golden Age can be enjoyed by a wide readership on several levels. For the general reader it provides an illuminating one-volume survey ofhigher education in the post-World War II period. For scholars and specialists it offers an in-depth analysis of a complex time. For those interested in particular institutions it includes concise portraits unavailable elsewhere. All audiences will appreciate the book's wealt

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195054644
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	05/28/1992
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.38(w) x 9.56(h) x 1.87(d)
Lexile:	1490L (what's this?)

About the Author

University of Massachusetts, Boston

Editorial Reviews

"A magnificent work of scholarship....No book tells more about the dirty little secrets of universities as they jockey to enhance their prestige and resources. No book tells more about the universities and colleges of a single state. Academia's Golden Age is one of the very best books ever written about the history of American higher education."—Society

"An elegantly written piece of social history that can take its place with pride next to the work of Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., Oscar Handlin, and Samuel Eliot Morison."—Boston Phoenix

"With higher education under fire from so many quarters, a comprehensive history of the development of eight Massachusetts colleges and universities could not be more timely....From presidential searches to battles over campus expansions, the book provides an exhaustive behind-the-scenes look at some of the nation's leading institutions....Essential reading."—Boston Globe

"Provid[es] critical insights into an unexplored era in American higher education....This readable, scholarly text compares favorably with L.G. Heller's excellent The Death of the American University."—CHOICE

"With scholarly authority and clarity of style, Richard Freeland has captured brilliantly those brief years during which America put its colleges and universities on a pedestal. He does so with a focus on metropolitan Boston, long considered the academic Athens of America, and he examines that claim in contemporary times. Skillfully treating the overall pattern of development in higher education and that of eight specific institutions, Freeland moves over a wide range from Harvard and M.I.T. to the University of Massachusetts. He examines the triumphs and trials of each. As a onetime faculty member and administrator in all three, I can testify to the quality of his historical analysis and to the gracefulness of his writing. For anyone who wants to understand higher education in the United States today, this book has to be read and pondered."—Robert Wood, Wesleyan University

"American higher education came of age in the years between 1945 and 1970. Until now there has been no history of this critical period. Richard Freeland's study of the evolution of higher education in Massachusetts during this time is a much needed book and an important scholarly work."—Arthur Levine, Harvard University

"This splendid study of higher education in one state is also an excellent commentary on developments in all 50 states during higher education's most Golden Age—an Age that also had its impurities as is carefully noted. Thoroughly researched and marked by balanced good judgment."—Clark Kerr, University of California, Berkeley

"[Freeland] accepted a difficult challenge, to understand and explain the 'paradox within a paradox' that characterized higher education in the 1950s and 1960s....The author has met the challenge well, in scholarly fashion, in readable prose, and with commendable perceptiveness. As one who served as a university president during 'Academia's Golden Age,' I find engrossing his account of the period, impressive the thoroughness of his research, and remarkable the insights he acquired."—Nils Y. Wessell, President of Tufts University (1953-1966)

"Freeland's account brilliantly illuminates the main lines of recent academic development."—History of Education Quarterly

"Freeland has chronicled well an extraordinary period in the history of American higher education."—Journal of American History

"One of the rare works exploring academia's recent history....One cannot help but find [Freeland's] study enlightening for its treatment of higher education history and policy."—Reviews in American History

"Ambitious and intelligent....An important scholarly study....A wide readership of this book is deserved."—Historical Studies in Education

"A fascinating study of universities in Massachusetts during the quarter-century following World War II."—American Historical Review

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