A survey of the trajectory of research in literature, history, sociology, and economics over the past century, as well as the values, priorities and agendas of the modern research university, this book argues that in spite of its wealth, power and success, the modern university, has lost its way, resulting in a depreciation of its value.

Global capitalism is effecting changes in human life as momentous as those that occurred during the Neolithic Revolution, the Axial Age (700-300 BC), and the modern era post-1500, when industrial capitalism, state power, and science reshaped the civilized world. The transformation is paradoxical, however. Science and technology ensure material progress but the market promotes cultural obsolescence and erodes belief in the Enlightenment ideals that inspired the quest for progress. In Western democracies, liberty and equality are proving irreconcilable, citizens becoming demoralized, fraternity...