Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class

by Ross Douthat

In the spirit of Scott Turow's One L and David Brooks's Bobos in Paradise , a penetrating critique of elite universities and the culture of privilege they perpetuate, written by a recent Harvard alumnus.

Part memoir, part social critique, Privilege is an absorbing assessment of one of the world's most celebrated Harvard. In this sharp, insightful account, Douthat evaluates his social and academic education -- most notably, his frustrations with pre-established social hierarchies and the trumping of intellectual rigor by political correctness and personal ambition. The book addresses the spectacles of his time there, such as the embezzlement scandal at the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and Professor Cornel West's defection to Princeton. He also chronicles the more commonplace but equally revealing experiences, including social climbing, sexual relations, and job hunting.

While the book's narrative centers on Harvard, its main arguments have a much broader the state of the American college experience. Privilege is a pointed reflection on students, parents, and even administrators and professors who perceive specific schools merely as stepping-stones to high salaries and elite social networks rather than as institutions entrusted with academic excellence.

A book full of insightful perceptions and illuminating detail, Privilege is sure to spark endless debates inside and outside the ivied walls.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Sociology, Memoir, Politics, Society, School

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Ross Gregory Douthat is a conservative American author, blogger and New York Times columnist. He was a senior editor at The Atlantic and is author of Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class (Hyperion, 2005) and, with Reihan Salam, Grand New Party (Doubleday, 2008), which David Brooks called the "best single roadmap of where the Republican Party should and is likely to head." He is a film critic for National Review and has also contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, the Claremont Review of Books, GQ, Slate, and other publications. In addition, he frequently appears on the video debate site Bloggingheads.tv. In April 2009, he became an online and op-ed columnist for The New York Times, replacing Bill Kristol as a conservative voice on the Times editorial page. Douthat is the youngest regular op-ed writer in the paper's history.

Reviews

[☆brooklyn☆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Touches on elitism and the fact that harvard students are and have always been upheld by their privilege and wealth (spoiled rich kids, is what i’m trying to say) rather than any form of merit, which I appreciated, but as you read on about his views on activism, sexism and racism, it becomes increasingly apparent that he is actually sexist, racist and a neoliberal who has never read or tried to understand leftist theory and ideology, yet repeatedly tries to dunk on leftists for not knowing what they’re talking about. This completely ruined the book for me and i don’t think he should be given the platform to talk about class because he doesn’t understand it outside of the fact that he wasn’t accepted into a fraternity at harvard.

Just one particularly heinous quote out of many:
“Instead of combatting heterosexism, freeing Tibet, and pushing for faculty diversity, the Undergraduate Council began to focus on issues where it could actually effect change, like creating “Fly-By” lunches for students on the run between classes, or installing frozen-yogurt machines in the dining halls.”

This is in response to the student body voting on a grape boycott in solidarity with impoverished farm workers, an attempt he calls “overzealous activism.”

Sorry, but I don’t want to read about class from someone who thinks frozen yogurt machines are a better investment than human rights.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I have never studied at Harvard or any other ivy league school, there was a lot I could identify with concerning this book and the author's somewhat embarrassing discussion of his own undergraduate studies and life.  I grew up myself as a rather poor and bright and moderately ambitious young person and attended the University of Southern California as an undergraduate student, where I saw a similar set of circumstances to the one the author describes for his own Harvard education [1].  Admittedly, my own experience of being a poor, Southern-raised, deeply Conservative college student way out of his depth in the world of decadent higher education is not a particularly common one, but whether you approach the author's book with a great degree of self-knowledge and identification with the author's struggles as an outsider to feel as if he belongs among the ruling class (something the author has succeeded at far more than I have), or whether one looks at the author's experience with envy and/or contempt, as may be a more common reaction, the author certainly provides in this book an intriguing and frequently disturbing look at America's contemporary elite.

This book of about 300 pages is divided into nine mostly large chapters.  The author begins with a prologue that examines the chaotic and somewhat drunken graduation ceremony the author experienced in June 2002 at Harvard, which sets up the rest of the discussion.  He moves to Harvard's social engineering as seen in the breakup of Straus B-32 during the author's freshman year, as efforts at bringing a diverse group of people failed in the midst of drama and division (1).  The author examines his own embarrassing attempts to be accepted into the old boys' club of the various unofficial social houses and Harvard's desire to end the partying and socializing of its students (2).  After that comes a chapter that examines the striving and crimes of one Suzanne Pomey, a person the author (and this reader at least) can identify with perhaps a bit too closely for comfort (3).  The author then turns his attention to Harvard's much maligned core curriculum and the lack of emphasis on knowledge on the part of many students (4).  The author gives more embarrassing love stories (5) and a discussion about safe sex and the general absence of a healthy sex life among many contemporary undergrads (6), again, something I have deep personal experience of.  After that comes a discussion of the simmering civil war between "parlor" and "street" liberals over the acceptance of capitalism and the push for activism (7), something I have seen myself.  The book closes on a melancholy look at the author's last summer before graduation (8) and the temporary change in campus culture that took place after September 11, 2001 (9), at which point the book ends with a note of hope concerning the author's successful relationship with a bright friend and classmate after college.

One of the more intriguing aspects of this book is the way that the author discusses the transformation of Harvard's WASP elite into something somewhat more amorphous but ultimately no less elitist in its contemporary privileged class.  In giving a warts and all look at the unsettling and often unpleasant behavior of undergraduates from privileged families who act richer than they are, use their college experience in very traditional ways to gain connections and an entry into the larger cultural elite rather than in the acquisition of knowledge or in the broadening of one's perspective as a whole, the author demonstrates how it is that elites perpetuate themselves through institutions by watching carefully for interlopers and keeping connections strong generation after generation for those who can charm their fellow elites.  How one views these elites and their problems is not something that the author seems interested in telling--he tells his own story about what he saw and what he experienced, and the response of the reader to this demonstrates the extent to which they care about those who rule over this country to a great extent.  If you read this book, you probably at least care a little about these subjects and about the struggle to be just while also getting ahead.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think he nails some of the behaviors, attitudes, and trends of students, faculty, and administrators at elite institutions. Often as I read I found it remarkable how much he got right, at least according to my early 2000's college years at UVA (the so-called public Ivy, pretentious as that is). He's a talented writer, though he seems to realize this and frequently goes overboard with unnecessarily melodramatic sentences and semi-obscure cultural references (obscure only to us plebians, I suppose, but irritating nonetheless).

This book asserts itself as a sociology text. It is NOT; it is a memoir. The author throws around impressive sounding statistics, but he includes no citations--didn't they teach him better at Harvard? According to his critiques of the Core Curriculum at Harvard, no. He probably spent too much time in "Indigenous Cultures of the Canary Islands" and "Politics of 14th century Russian Villages" and not enough in a basic research methods class.

Perhaps what bothered me the most is that for all his complaining about Harvard, Douthat comes off as the exact same spoiled, over privileged, entitled student that he lampoons. He offers little vision for how Harvard should or could be different, and is entirely unconvincing in any attempt to set himself apart from his classmates. He observes, he writes, he complains, but the missing piece is ACTION. Don't complain and do nothing--that's called whining.

I was also appalled at some of his comments about women and events like "Take Back the Night." The chapter on student advocacy almost made me slam the book shut in disgust.

Bottom line: if you went to a pretentious college and you felt uncomfortable with some of the attitudes and behaviors you saw there, you will find some interesting and very identifiable reflections in this book. Tangible solutions to revamping elite education? Won't find them here. But you will find a lot of thinly veiled snobbery and smugness that may make you want to throw the book out the window. I'm glad I only spent 3.50 on this book in a "Bargain" pile. Guess I'm not the only one who was unimpressed.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can Douthat write so well so young?

He wrote this memoir of his years at Harvard just a few years after graduation. Extremely well done. Take-aways: 1. he's a great writer. 2. I'm so glad I didn't go to Harvard, not that it was ever in the cards for me.. 3. I wonder what my Dad's years at Harvard (med school) were like. He didn't talk about it much, but I would be so intrigued, and now I can't ask him.

I would have given is 4.5 stars just because of some content issues and it gets a little bit draggy in the middle, but overall, just a great read.

[R · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honest admission: I couldn't wade through "The Liberal Civil War" after numerous pages, so I skipped about 10 or 20 pages and moved on to the next chapter.

"Even this book has been written as much in ambition as in idealism." Mr. Douthat, I suspect, wrote the book in internal conflict. He criticizes people for name-dropping, yet dedicates a whole chapter to a summer hobnobbing with William F. Buckley, Jr. He talks about the privilege (meaning power) that comes with having attended Harvard, yet only supported increasing minimum wage because he felt a little guilty. I appreciate that he discussed grade inflation, which is probably too real; as one recent graduate of a prestigious institution told me that "meets expectations" is akin to failing, not that they are literally "meeting expectations" and thus was taught to remind their graders that they needed a higher grade. Most recently, we have celebrities admitting they paid to get their kids into the colleges of their choice, so what is real any more?

He was writing in a holier-than-thou tone which was awkward, and referenced numerous times when he had much more insight than others (except when he had a crush on Rachel Polley). Mr. Douthat became what he criticizes - an elitist. Perhaps he speaks truthfully when he says: "ours is the privilege that comes with belonging to an upper class grown large enough to fancy itself diverse; fluid and competitive enough to believe itself meritocratic; smart enough for intellectual snobbery but not for intellectual curiosity." Not all attempts at diversity fail like his Straus neighbors, although perhaps he noted this more during his time at Harvard (it also seems that most of his friends are Caucasian in descent and wealthy). It fails when we do not mutually strive to understand where others come from and instead attempt to shoehorn them into what we expect them to be. This is not idealism, just straight up social ladder climbing / ambition. Mr. Douthat depicts a class separation in which he is clearly grateful to be part of the upper class.

I was hoping for so much more from this book.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book intrigued me and having read another by the author, had to check it out. I appreciated his honesty relaying the disappointments and failures many of us encounter in college but also pinpointing what makes the ivy league experience a bit different with far more illustrious history, alumni and campus visitors. I was surprised to learn Harvard has no ROTC program, has living wage issues for many employees and rumored grade inflation. The author points out while the admission process is tough, the academic work is not difficult (at least not for him). He does note the demands of some students who expect to be served but that is true everywhere. I especially related to his feelings as his undergrad time ended. I walked my college campus the autumn after I graduated, hit with the deep feeling in the pit of my stomach that I no longer belonged there, that time of life having passed. I am grateful my parents had the ability to send me, paying for an extra year due to a change of major, and then the decision to pursue a double major (bless my Dad!). College is like many experiences in that by the time you really understand how to manage and enjoy it, it has concluded. Those years will always be special but I suspect many people look back wishing they had stressed less over minor issues which of course loomed large at the time.

[Jim Cupples · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting book, because the social world of harvard is interesting, but overall, disappointing. russ thinks of himself as an 'outsider' from harvard, although he went to a prep school in connecticut where the tuition is 20K+. pretty much takes him the whole book to bitch about more popular people than he was while he was there. i'm not sure, but when you're the editor of the conservative harvard campus paper, whether you think you are or not, trust me, you're on the inside. if he's one of the best thinkers/columnists from young conservatives, they're doomed.

[greta long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good portrayal of “elite institutions,” though I find something lacking in his writing. Where’s the self reflection? Of course, I’m guilty of forgetting this too, but it makes the narrative a little whiny.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the tradition of God and Man at Yale, but in many ways, superior. For all of the criticism of Harvard’s Bobo paradoxes and Last Man revelries, Douthat ultimately writes from a position of love for an alma mater.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since admission to Harvard University is granted to a select few, I figured that "Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class" was about the privilege of simply being accepted there. I was surprised to realize that author Ross Douthat believes that students who come to Harvard are ALREADY privileged.

“I don’t mean the privilege of old – of social registers and massive Newport cottages, or farther back, of titles and family crests. No, ours is the privilege that comes with belonging to an upper class grown large enough to fancy itself diverse; fluid and competitive enough to believe itself meritocratic; smart enough for intellectual snobbery but not for intellectual curiosity.”

Douthat’s thesis is that while the student body is ethnically diverse, it is, in fact, not at all geographically or socio-economically diverse. Many of his undergraduate classmates went to suburban, private schools in politically “blue” states such as Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and California. Few urban, southern or mid-western students are represented as are “poor” students.

While there are 30,000+ high schools in the country, less than 1,000 sent four or more students to join his class at Harvard. The top ten most represented high schools are in New York and Massachusetts, and send nearly 20 percent of their classes each year to Harvard, Yale and Princeton, according to Worth magazine. (The reference to other highly selective colleges begets the mention of the Educational Testing Service survey that showed that “you’re twenty times more likely to encounter a wealthy student than a poor student at an Ivy League.” Maybe Douthat’s treatise should have been "Privilege: Top Ten Colleges and the Education of the Ruling Class – as viewed from Harvard.")

So, while his dorm-mates are Sri Lankan (by way of Texas); Indian (by way of Tennessee); half Jewish and half Catholic; half Chinese; white; black; and Muslim; they were generally blessed with a competitive, secondary education that enhanced their raw intellectual ability and drive to surpass their peers. This is another point that Douthat likes to make- that everyone at Harvard is super competitive and eager to rack up the grades and activities to order to get that i-bank job (that’s at an investment bank, folks) or a cush consulting job after college.

The beginning and end of the book consistently make these points. The middle, however, portrays the author as a bit of a whiner, complaining about his inadequate social and romantic life (a continuation of the awkward, dorkiness begotten in high school), disappointment with undergraduate class offerings (too specialized), rampant grade inflation (widely and resolutely acknowledged) and disillusioned with his peers’ work ethics (can you say procrastination?). There are times when I thought that he really could have substituted any Top Twenty college experience for his own. Was Harvard the only place where people came home drunk, peed on statues, slacked off on studying or skipped class? I don’t think so. Perhaps his title could have been "Privilege: American Youth Grow Up during Expensive College Years?"

Aside from that quibble, Douthat did an impressive job writing about his experience as he traversed four years through Harvard Yard. It’s not an easy thing to share your vulnerability during a tremendous time of personal growth to the world. (In some regards, I think that personal growth is really what college is all about.) While he was at Harvard, he wrote for the daily Crimson and, in the end, secured a PRIVILEGED job with The Atlantic Monthly. It’s tempting to say, “How ironic,” but, really, it was all about having been PRIVILEGED enough to earn a spot at Harvard at all.

[Justin Lonas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've long enjoyed Douthat's column in the New York Times. He is an unusually clear and reasonable voice for social conservatives in today's media.

This is his first book, published in 2005, not too long after his time as a student at Harvard. I was expecting something in the snarky and insightful essay style typical of his columns, but this is much more of a college memoir. It still has some high points of excellent writing and commentary on the stratification of American life (specifically the growing gulf between the media, business, and government elites and "everyone else") alluded to in the subtitle, but it struck me as a bit sophomoric on the whole.

Douthat's narrative of his early days at the university paint a picture of old-fashioned American decadence blended with centuries-old traditions, giving the impression that Harvard student life is akin to residing at Hogwarts while partying with Jay Gatsby. His chapters on the lovelorn hopelessness of college freshmen and the hypersexual motivations of much of campus life are positively stomach-churning, which I suppose is his point in relating the folly of it all. His skewering of the overwhelming liberalism (and the divide between "parlor liberals" and "street liberals") of elite higher education is spot on.

Again, an interesting read, though Charles Murray's "Coming Apart" is a much more thorough and analytical look at the same cultural phenomena Douthat depicts. I can guarantee, though, that you won't find the phrase "skinny dipping with William F. Buckley, Jr." in Murray's work.

[Ezzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be about Harvard and higher education, but 1/3 of the way in and he hasn't said anything that's not basically true on any campus in the US (excluding the history of the school, which is just blah blah regurgitation of facts). It's just a generic college memoir [did you know he went to Harvard? He went to Harvard. no doubts, he went to Harvard, and is willing to fulfill all stereotypes by telling you all about it.] Also, he whines a lot. I'm not surprised to learn he wrote this within a few years after graduating; a hallmark of recent graduates (especially those hung up on where they went to college) is the non-stop "OMG you guys we were SO CRAZY freshman year! Remember all the CRAZY SHIT that went on! We were wild and totally unique!!!"

It's a DNF for me, so maybe it gets amazing and insightful later on. But there are better generic college stories out there, and many bring a lot more self-awareness to the table. It's disappointing, because I think he and I fundamentally agree that the meritocracy is largely a myth. The difference (in general between conservatives and liberals?) is that he seems okay with it, and I'm interested in exploring the implications of that and ideas about changing it.

And... he just seems like the kind of guy who would dedicate an entire evening to telling me shit I already know. Maybe IRL he's a super-nice guy, but... I didn't find it surprising that he whines about being rebuffed by his love interest in this book.

[Darius Liddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read. It seems like Douthat has a good idea of what Harvard is and what it's about. Privilege, class, and money are still important social markers -- even in this "dreamland" called America. Being a Stanford grad, I have nothing against Harvard and am sure they give a world-class education.

Some of the stories he gave were shocking. He talked about race and gender politics. And about how school was a race to the top and not a quest for learning. College and admissions is turning into a game where students are engineering themselves for a high-powered career. Padding the resume, joining the right clubs, becoming president of the student body. Those things aren't bad in themselves, but so many students today have incredibly misplaced motives. Sometimes, you really wonder if the student body president actually gives a shit about what happens. Prestige is the strongest magnet that we have in society today -- and Harvard is the intellectual (and monetary, to a degree) pinnacle of this black hole. Prestige makes you want to want that meticulous job with those shitty hours but high pay (lawyer, i-banking). Think about it.

I digress. Anyway, very interesting book. Douthat is bright and sardonic.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my....

I have read very few books as self-indulgent as this one. An entire book devoted to one person's gripes and disappointments with his undergraduate experience. (Reading about his awkwardness with woman/unrequited crushes of all sorts was a particular waste of time) I imagine that it received attention and a publisher because it was about a prestigious place (Harvard) from an unconventional viewpoint (conservative). Perhaps what is funniest is the sense of disillusionment at the heart of the book. I suspect very few people would be as surprised at his findings as he was. In some ways, I sympathize. I love to publish a book at some point settling any number of scores with those who have disappointed and rejected me. (The problem with a criminal embezzler isn't the theft, it was the snobbery and the social climbing and the fact that she didn't seem particularly interesting in knowing me!) It could also have been about 100 pages shorter, if he had avoided trying to appear erudite by sprinkling in rather boilerplate history and just stuck to the narrative.

[Brian Ayres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Douthat, who will soon be in the print pages of the New York Times as an op-ed columnist, certainly doesn't provide a gripping tale of college life. It's a dry version of Tom Wolfe's "I am Charlotte Simmons." However, what I found most enlightening as a teacher of students who believe that a university's status means a better education was Douthat's well-written chapter on the decline of Harvard academics. Harvard has led the way (primarily because the brand is so strong everyone tries to emulate it) in the fragmentation of the curriculum and the solidification of grade inflation that began in the Vietnam era of the 1970s. For a sticker price of $50,000 a year, the Harvard undergraduate education has turned into the $3 bottle of water -- simply an overpriced commodity that the upper-middle class can slap a "My Son Goes to Harvard" bumper sticker on their Volvo.

[Acacia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book off a table outside the book store at my alma mater a few years ago because of the provocative title and the unbeatable price ($0.00). The thing I love and hate about Ross Douthat is that he frequently looks at the same things I do, in much the same way, and consistently comes to the exact opposite conclusion I would. It baffles and delights me. It's a much greater pleasure in short form, though (especially his blog); he's very insightful, but his commitment to Republican politics leads him to take stands that quickly become untenable. I didn't think it was possible to write a book-length treatment of privilege at Harvard this shallow. I give it two stars because I like being surprised.

[Anamaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting how many of the things that are true of Harvard are true of ND, in terms of student life, particularly ambition over an idea of the good. The snippets of post-graduate updates (Hi all, I just got back from a summer spent in x doing y. It was an amazing experience to see another part of the world. Now I'm in z city working for l company....) were hilarious because they were so true.

It made me more grateful that I went to ND, because most of the things that were negative about Harvard were less so at ND, largely because of Catholicism. It also makes me fear for the university's future and its ambition to be like Harvard.

[Billie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this book to be a critique of contemporary college culture, and certainly there are some elements of that. I thought the chapter about Approaches to Education was interesting and insightful, if largely misguided. However, I felt like most of the book was too personal to be credibly critical, and eventually I just got tired of reading about this poor little privileged boy. Douthat's unreflective political stance also became increasingly annoying as the book progressed, and it kept getting in the way for me. I actually gave up and skimmed the last two chapters.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to admit, I did not think that I was getting a Memoir about Douthat's days at Harvard when I picked this up, with a side order of anti-vax pretty early on in the book. I had read and liked his book Grand New Party which had a lot (barring my hatred of sprawl, something he was in favor of) things I agreed with. But this was nothing like it and I was a bit disappointed as I was hoping to see a center-right takedown of Ivy League education similar to his center-right takedown of the wandering and seemingly perpetually disjointed GOP.

[Teaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would do 3.5 if that was an option. A lot of the commentary feels sort of inessential (though in fairness, the book was written more than 15 years ago, and I'm sure a good deal of it felt more revelatory at the time). But Douthat is an underrated storyteller and I found many of the anecdotes scattered throughout the book embarrassingly relatable. Rounding up rather than down both as a handicap for the book's age and because I'm a Boss Ross fan.

[Jarrod Sio · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Privilege” is made up of two books - the serious, fact-laden write up in the tone of Gladwell, Brooks, Grant et al; and the keening, embarrassingly vulnerable diary of a pimply, virginal high achiever. I prefer the latter over the former - even though Douthat is competent on the non-fiction front - he is a New York Times journalist, after all.

Douthat was at his best at several points of this memoir. I particularly liked the chapter on 9/11. Safely ensconced in leafy Boston, he and his university mates were not untouched by the calamity in New York. The paranoia that predated the pandemic to come writhed in his prose, belying the mundanity of the day before. It was a sea change and a rite of passage for Douthat and co. “In our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment”



“there was still something about the whole scene that attracted me. After all, wasn't this part of what had drawn me to Harvard-the pomp and splendor, the old traditions, the antlers on the wall and the highbranched family trees?”

I had felt contempt, initially, for the wealth and luxury that these kids, these teenagers and early twenty-somethings, seemed to take for granted. But by the end, my contempt had vanished, replaced by naked need. I wanted to wander the rolling lawns of the Percy Estate, to hobnob with Alistair Woolvington, to vacation in Barcelona and Malta, to crash croquet tournaments, and to party at an ambassador's house. I wanted to see the vast, semi-mythical recesses of the clubhouse, to be acquainted with the ancient rituals, to attend the secret retreats and tag along on the European tours.

...the oft-repeated cliche about the best Harvard education taking place "outside the classroom."...This promise was meritocracy's bright side. But there was a darker side as well. To reach the heights of American education, we had to be, by nature, incredibly ambitious and incredibly driven. Harvard is a social Darwinist's delight, an ecosystem filled with creatures superbly adapted to vanquish every competitor. Within this Harvardian hothouse, the advantage often goes-atleast in the short term -to the manipulative and dishonest, those willing to backstab and lie and cheat their way upward.

“The typical freshman romantic pairing at Harvard begins with such fraught entryway encounters, proceeds through a few false starts and drunken conversations, and culminates when the amorous pair-let's call them Dick and Jane-admit to their friends, and to each other, that they are an official couple. “Often it's only at this point that love enters the equation, perhaps with Jane making the "L" word a condition of their transition from oral sex to the genuine article. It's a transition hampered at first by the close quarters and shared bedrooms of freshman dorms, but in sophomore year, Dick gets his own bedroom, and from then on they sleep together almost every night. Their lives thus intertwined, they fall into various routines: They eat breakfast together most mornings; they go out to dinner a few times a week (Dick pays, unless Jane is having a particularly feminist moment) ; they cross the river to Boston together occasionally; and each fall and spring they rent a car and drive to a bed-and-breakfast in Lenox or Great Barrington or Stockbridge, where the stodgy proprietors pretend to believe they are a married couple.”


“Yet Adam endured, visiting frequently, showing up in tuxedos for formals,”

“Like most paranoiacs, street liberals arc flush with facts. You will never meet anyone so well informed, so well read, as a campus protestor, so long as you stay on his or her chosen ground of labor relations, or World Bank malfeasance, or police brutality, or U.S. perfidy in East Timor and Latin America. Y ct they have a deep aversion to argument, by which I mean argument on a higher level than a simple marshaling of statistics. Street liberals like to keep things simple: If people are badly paid, then they should be given raises; if workers suffer after a round of IMF-ordered budget cuts, then spending should be increased and the IMF abolished. Arguments that complicate these easy answers-that bring in economic theory, political trade-offs, and ultimate questions about the nature of justice and the role of government-are deeply suspect, since logic and philosophy are themselves ideologically tainted, having been long used by the ruling class to justify their privileged position.”

Allowing universal key card access to the thirteen upperclass houses.

“The Harvard Club was cool and ossified, with antlers on the walls and crimson drapes and deep carpets, and there was no one our age there, only decrepit alums clutching Rob Roys, so we bolted for the Yale Club, because it was more happening; to mingle with Yalies we'd never met.”

“there was some last, faintly desperate talk of hitting a few bars, of extending the night and the Ivy League camaraderie a little further.”

“ and the next time we set foot on campus, it would be as alumni, as strangers, as trespassers in a world that had belonged to us once, but no longer and never again.”

“ Even this hook has been written as much in ambition as in idealism.
”

[Aden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A student embezzlement scandal totaling tens of thousands of dollars. A heated and personal debate over UC candidates followed by a change of government.

No, I’m not talking about the past two years at Harvard (in which all of this occurred). I’m talking about Harvard in 2001, as described by Ross Douthat’s Memoir Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class . He details these happenings and more, all of which bear a strange resemblance to the Harvard of today.

The very same worries that consume current students, over grade inflation, selling out, and the death of the humanities, are also reflected in the book. The list goes on and on: student sit-ins for higher wages and the boycotting of conservative speakers. Does any of this sound familiar?

I don’t know what to make of this parallelism and whether it’s motivating or demotivating that we are fighting the same fights as the students of the past.

On one hand, the book was comforting. I like viewing myself in a long lineage of students who shared my own fears about taking the right classes or achieving a fulfilling life. None of us are alone in this.

But it’s depressing that Harvard has changed so little in twenty years. Perhaps the stasis reveals that there really is no answer to some of these dilemmas. It turns out that grade inflation will continue and so will protests and so will boycotts and there isn’t some higher power that will eventually press the stop button or resolve these conflicts. That’s not a reason to stop agitating for change. In fact it may be a reason to continue.

Anyways, anyone who wants a greater sense of context for Harvard or higher education more broadly should read Douthat’s book, especially because his (accurate) criticisms of meritocracy were prescient of so many of the current criticisms levied at the Ivy League today. This is a must-read for incoming Harvard students.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazone

Tedious

As an early 90s Harvard grad, I must admit that I enjoyed reading this book. Douthat does a great job of describing in detail life in Cambridge. What amazes me is that non-Harvard grads would find this even mildly amusing.

I attended a large state school in the South for my graduate work and, incredibly, it wasn't that different from Harvard. The teachers were inaccessible, grades were inflated, students cared more about getting a job than getting an education.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not defending Harvard. Most of what Douthat says is true and I share many of his opinions.

I just think it's arrogant to think that anyone else would give a rip. Kudos to him for getting a booked published in his early 20s and getting friends to review it positively on Amazon.

In 10 years he'll learn that the world doesn't revolve around him and his classmates and most people really don't care.

Bottom line - Harvard is like most other colleges in the US only it accepts a higher percentage of the anti-social, high IQ, over-achievers that exist on any campus but in fewer numbers.

If someone wants a Harvard experience, go hang out with the nerdy types at your school. Most people choose not to because they have something better to do.

JRC

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Enormous change

This book is either wrong or things have changed a great deal since I was a student at Harvard, 50 years ago.

The author contends that the Final Clubs are the center of social life at Harvard in this new century. I was a clubbie there and knew then that the final clubs were marginal and none of friends had even heard of them.

My, how things appear to have changed, if the author is to be believed.

William M. Doolittle


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Interesting information from the author who experienced a Harvard education firsthand.
Actually made me appreciate my state university education even more!

[James Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personal memoir of a Harvard grad who has become a leading conservative political commentator. I found the personal anecdotes only minimally interesting and the critical analysis of Harvard students somewhat lacking depth. The personal nature of this memoir seems to interfere with the possibility of more incisive commentary.

[Lindsey L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for class, but I would read it for pleasure and pure interest in a heartbeat. Highly recommend for any who love to learn about, critique, and improve elite, private higher-educational institutions in regards to academics, social scenes, and beyond. Great insight, entertaining stories, and interesting lessons learned.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and insightful. Even if you didn't go to Harvard, many of the experiences and observations here are universal, especially if you went to private school and live along the I-95 corridor.

[Matt DosSantos DiSorbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to highly bespoke terminology and jargon, I can see this being an irritating and confusing read for those not familiar with the College. For an alumnus, though, this is an account to treasure. Perfectly captures the Harvard experience.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on the elite ruling class - socially and politically. Moreover, interesting perspective on socioeconomic and regional diversity in college board admissions.

[LT · Rating 5 out of 5]

hands down one of the best books I've read all year. brilliant.

[Vincenzo Rascionato · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting stories but overall not very insightful or entertaining.