Description: This book sheds academic obscurity to tell the story of trends in contemporary literary and cultural criticism and the state of the American university. It collects noted and new essays by Jeffrey J. Williams, who regularly publishes in Dissent, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and LARB, as well as major academic venues.
Brief description: JEFFREY J. WILLIAMS has published widely on criticism, the novel, and the politics of higher education, in Dissent, The Chronicle of Higher Education, LARB, Salon, and VLS, as well as in major academic journals. He is one of the editors of the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. He also served as editor of the minnesota review from 1992 to 2010. He is Professor of English and of Literary and Cultural Studies at Carnegie Mellon University.
Review Quotes: Jeffrey Williams has provided ample evidence here of a passionate and principled intellectual engagement with the political and financial interests that are combining forces to gut higher education. There could not be a better time for all of us working in the academy to follow his example.-- "--Academe"