Description: According to Harvard professor Menand, at a time when competition to get into and succeed in college has never been more intense, universities are providing a less useful education. In "The Marketplace of Ideas," he assesses what is important in a traditional university---and what is not.
Brief description: Louis Menand, professor of English at Harvard University, is the author of The Metaphysical Club, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in History. A longtime staff writer for The New Yorker, he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Review Quotes: A worthy and admirably succinct exploration of why colleges are so difficult to improve. "