The Emergence of the American University

by Laurence R. Veysey

The American university of today is the product of a sudden, mainly unplanned period of development at the close of the 19th & the beginning of the 20th centuries. At that time the university, & with it a recognizably modern style of academic life, emerged to eclipse the older, religiously oriented college. Precedents, formal & informal, were then set which have affected the soul of professor, student & academic administrator ever since. What did those living in this formative period want the American university to become? How did they differ in defining the ideal university? Why did the institution acquire a form that only partially corresponded with these definitions? These are the questions Veysey seeks to answer.

Genres: Education, History, Nonfiction, American, Teaching, Academic

520 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1965

Reviews

[Colin Payton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It haunts my dissertation that this book is a condensed version of his dissertation. Only good diss is a finished diss? That’s a self-soothing lie; this work was incredible for its time — it would be miraculous if written today.

[Matt Ely · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no denying the density of this book. It's awash in detail. The fact that this is an abridged version of the original is hard to accept.

But when you get past the fact that this may take you a while to get through, you can begin to appreciate what Veysey is attempting here. Through focusing on episode after episode, actor after actor, he paints a picture of just how drastic the changes were in American university structure between the Civil War and the First World War. Beginning with the classical college, more reminiscent of a Puritan seminary, it took just fifty years for the organization and ethos of the university to closely resemble what we know it as today. As Veysey says, the university of five thousand more closely resembles the university of fifty thousand than the college of five hundred. The intervening century may have changed the scale of mass education, but it's been an iteration of a model that developed over this crucial period.

Mostly, Veysey is just a good hang. The breadth of his quotations and the humor of his commentary and insight make every page engaging. It's impossible to avoid drawing parallels with today's college questions, and it's shocking how little the discourse has evolved since this period.

If you're interested in the question of how the American university got to be the way it is, this is a great way to engage with the thought. There was a period where things could have gone another way, but Veysey does a great job of showing how the many competing lines of thought in the late nineteenth century coalesced into a form of institutional management that could tolerate and mollify them all. Seeing just how that happened is the fascinating ride the author takes you on.

[Graeme · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is condensed from a PhD dissertation. It has a great deal of fascinating information for historians and students who don't mind unraveling the pompous, convoluted academese, but it's not to be read for enjoyment.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry, but very informative.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

so funny. I love the way he made fun of historians and philosophers alike :)

[William Zeng · Rating 5 out of 5]

lots of details, but it FLOWS