Perhaps the pivotal book in the reform of higher education in the United States, Robert M. Hutchins' classic is once again available, with a brilliant personal and professional appreciation by Harry S. Ashmore. When it was published in 1936 The Higher Learning in America brought into focus the root causes of the controversies that still beset the nation's educational system. Hutchins began tenure as a university president by declaring that the learning available in even the most prestigious universities was grossly defi cient. The curricular reforms and administrative reorganization he...