BOOKS
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it is hard to think of another Cold War battler who was so roundly re–
viled. To his credit, Hook continued to speak his mind and write his
trenchant letters through five of the most contentious decades in Ameri–
can culture. And to his credit, Edward S. Shapiro not only provides a
helpful overview for each of these decades, but also annotates each letter
with impeccable scholarship. The result is a book that earns its place
among the very best of Sidney Hook's estimable works.
Sanford Pinsker
The Politics of Academe
IDGHER EDUCATION UNDER FIRE: POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND
THE CRISIS OF THE HUMANITIES. Edited by Michael Berube and Cary
Nelson. Routledge. $55.00.
WE SCHOLARS: CHANGING THE CULTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY. By
David Damrosch. Harvard University Press. $32.50.
CULTURAL CAPITAL: THE PROBLEMS OF LITERARY CANON FOR–
MATION. By John Guillory. University of Chicago Press. $36.00.
THE USES OF THE UNIVERSITY. Fourth Ed. By Clark Kerr. Harvard
University Press. $15.95.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST. Edited by Diane Ravitch and Maris A. Vi–
novskis. Johns Hopkins University Press. $48.50.
AN ETIDCAL EDUCATION: COMMUNITY AND MORALITY IN THE
MULTICULTURAL UNIVERSITY. Edited by M. N. S. Sellers.
Berg Publishers. $54.95.
PC WARS: POLITICS AND CORRECTNESS IN THE ACADEMY. Edited by
Jeffrey Williams. Routledge. $55.00.
It was some time ago when I first heard the joke about academic
politics: "Question - Why are academic politics so vicious? Answer - Be–
cause the stakes are so low." This joke is more tragic than humorous, for
American higher education is in rapid decline. For instance, prestigious
colleges and universities are competing ruthlessly for the best students,
while less illustrious ones compete for students no matter what their aca–
demic preparation. As enrollments and external funding decrease, many
smaller colleges skitter dangerously at the edge of bankruptcy. Programs at
most colleges and universities have proliferated to such a degree that the
intellectual core of higher education has been hidden by a panoply of in–
stitutes, research centers, and less than serious certificate programs.
Faculties on many campuses are inward-looking and spend their time dis–
cussing governance and the politics of the curriculum, rather than
