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Allies and Rivals: German-American Exchange and the Rise of the Modern Research University
The first history of the ascent of American higher education told through the lens of German-American exchange.
During the nineteenth century, nearly ten thousand Americans traveled to Germany to study in universities renowned for their research and teaching. By the mid-twentieth century, American institutions led the world. How did America become the center of excellence in higher education? And what does that story reveal about who will lead in the twenty-first century?
Allies and Rivals is the first history of the ascent of American higher education seen through the lens of German-American exchange. In a series of compelling portraits of such leaders as Wilhelm von Humboldt, Martha Carey Thomas, and W. E. B. Du Bois, Emily J. Levine shows how academic innovators on both sides of the Atlantic competed and collaborated to shape the research university. Even as nations sought world dominance through scholarship, universities retained values apart from politics and economics. Open borders enabled Americans to unite the English college and German PhD to create the modern research university, a hybrid now replicated the world over.
In a captivating narrative spanning one hundred years, Levine upends notions of the university as a timeless ideal, restoring the contemporary university to its rightful place in history. In so doing she reveals that innovation in the twentieth century was rooted in international cooperation—a crucial lesson that bears remembering today.
During the nineteenth century, nearly ten thousand Americans traveled to Germany to study in universities renowned for their research and teaching. By the mid-twentieth century, American institutions led the world. How did America become the center of excellence in higher education? And what does that story reveal about who will lead in the twenty-first century?
Allies and Rivals is the first history of the ascent of American higher education seen through the lens of German-American exchange. In a series of compelling portraits of such leaders as Wilhelm von Humboldt, Martha Carey Thomas, and W. E. B. Du Bois, Emily J. Levine shows how academic innovators on both sides of the Atlantic competed and collaborated to shape the research university. Even as nations sought world dominance through scholarship, universities retained values apart from politics and economics. Open borders enabled Americans to unite the English college and German PhD to create the modern research university, a hybrid now replicated the world over.
In a captivating narrative spanning one hundred years, Levine upends notions of the university as a timeless ideal, restoring the contemporary university to its rightful place in history. In so doing she reveals that innovation in the twentieth century was rooted in international cooperation—a crucial lesson that bears remembering today.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published September 27, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 23, 2023
This book looks at how the German university system competed and collaborated with the American university system to create the systems we know today. The core of the book is that universities have social (and sometimes financial) contract with stake-holders in society. They produce something good for the society and they get autonomy. What that product is varies based on the needs of society and who the university is partnering with. It finishes by suggesting that universities are losing that autonomy while still producing valuable scholarship. It is a very good book if you are interested in the history of higher education. It is well-written and easy to read for such an academic subject.
Here are the main ideas as I saw them:
The German system started after the Napoleonic Wars as a way for Prussia to expand its scientific knowledge to make sure there were no more catastrophic defeats of the army. It eventually because the model for Europe because of its discoveries. Its professors were civil servants and explicitly served the public interest. The American system started later and began to try to learn from Germany by the second half of the nineteenth century. Johns Hopkins was founded to be a model research university along German lines, except the professors would answer to both the president of the university and the board of trustees.
In imitating Germany, Americans faced a problem that German did not - elitism. Germany certainly had elitism, but it didn't view it as a problem. Americans wanted a university that was more democratized and accessible. An effort to standardize universities to improve their international image reinforced this elitism because the elite schools set the standards. A push against this almost led to a national university in Washington, but it never came to pass. However, American universities did become more accessible to the masses over time, although there was (and still is) an element of elitism about them.
As other universities were founded and older universities followed the Hopkins model, they looked to Germany for validation. They hired German professors and many American professors got their terminal degree at German universities. By the beginning of the 20th century, the balance of power was changing, undermining German's automatic assumption of superiority. Americans were focusing on applying their discoveries, which was helping drive American innovation and growth. Americans also founded the Carnegie Institute, which was a research institute not directly part of a university. It was funded mainly by private donors rather than the state, which was a peculiarly American feature. Germany tried to imitate all three, but with limited success. Somewhere this time, the United States became the leader, helped by the limitations put on Germany academics by the First World War.
Germany academic freedom had been a model for Americans, but they never really understood it. Germans lost it nearly completely in WW1. For Americans the nationalism of wartime was too much for that freedom, whereas religion and economics had not been, but after the war they established a standard of freedom for professors to explore and teach what they wanted, although students did not have the same rights.
Here are the main ideas as I saw them:
The German system started after the Napoleonic Wars as a way for Prussia to expand its scientific knowledge to make sure there were no more catastrophic defeats of the army. It eventually because the model for Europe because of its discoveries. Its professors were civil servants and explicitly served the public interest. The American system started later and began to try to learn from Germany by the second half of the nineteenth century. Johns Hopkins was founded to be a model research university along German lines, except the professors would answer to both the president of the university and the board of trustees.
In imitating Germany, Americans faced a problem that German did not - elitism. Germany certainly had elitism, but it didn't view it as a problem. Americans wanted a university that was more democratized and accessible. An effort to standardize universities to improve their international image reinforced this elitism because the elite schools set the standards. A push against this almost led to a national university in Washington, but it never came to pass. However, American universities did become more accessible to the masses over time, although there was (and still is) an element of elitism about them.
As other universities were founded and older universities followed the Hopkins model, they looked to Germany for validation. They hired German professors and many American professors got their terminal degree at German universities. By the beginning of the 20th century, the balance of power was changing, undermining German's automatic assumption of superiority. Americans were focusing on applying their discoveries, which was helping drive American innovation and growth. Americans also founded the Carnegie Institute, which was a research institute not directly part of a university. It was funded mainly by private donors rather than the state, which was a peculiarly American feature. Germany tried to imitate all three, but with limited success. Somewhere this time, the United States became the leader, helped by the limitations put on Germany academics by the First World War.
Germany academic freedom had been a model for Americans, but they never really understood it. Germans lost it nearly completely in WW1. For Americans the nationalism of wartime was too much for that freedom, whereas religion and economics had not been, but after the war they established a standard of freedom for professors to explore and teach what they wanted, although students did not have the same rights.
December 10, 2021
This is one of the most impressive books on higher education that I've read in years.
Emily Levine attempts an unusual project here, constructing a dual history of universities in two countries, the United States and Germany, from 1800 to the present. This lets her accomplish a bunch of things: shed new light on how the modern university came to be; integrate theories of the academy with detailed institutional practices; build up a model of how universities innovate and change.
Allies and Rivals is full of great insights and stories, from how academic freedom emerged in WWI to the distinct power of federal politics (seriously) to spur academic development. Levine has a good eye for characters, too.
Here's our full Future Trends Forum discussion with professor Levine.
Strongly recommended.
Emily Levine attempts an unusual project here, constructing a dual history of universities in two countries, the United States and Germany, from 1800 to the present. This lets her accomplish a bunch of things: shed new light on how the modern university came to be; integrate theories of the academy with detailed institutional practices; build up a model of how universities innovate and change.
Allies and Rivals is full of great insights and stories, from how academic freedom emerged in WWI to the distinct power of federal politics (seriously) to spur academic development. Levine has a good eye for characters, too.
Here's our full Future Trends Forum discussion with professor Levine.
Strongly recommended.
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