Bruce L. R. Smith

Can the reading public imagine a less likely but more needed book than Stories for Men - a seventy-five-year- old anthology edited by Charles Grayson - written in an age when such a title would scarcely raise an eyebrow! Imagine a book about men in which the featured theme is not rapists, child abusers, or men who never weep, feel little sorrow, or prefer dog fighting to baseball. To say the least, this is a counter-cultural collective portrait necessary in today's politically correct world. The original editor, Charles Grayson, hit the nail on the head in his "explicit" opening remarks. "The only claim we make for this book is that it doesn't pretend to offer the best, or the finest, in the world's foremost short stories by contemporary masters. Simply it is just a bundle of yarns by present day American writers, each dealing with a different phase of the actions and activities of men, designed for good reading." The text fulfills its mission. The work features little known short stories by such major writers as Erskine Caldwell on racial relations, James M. Cain on murder, James T. Farrell on street life, Dashiell Hammett on men and divorce, Ring W. Lardner on baseball, Damon Runyon on football, William Saroyan on horseracing, Thomas Wolfe on travel, William Faulkner on foreigners, among many others. For readers interested in a slice of America, this will be a book of inestimable value as well as personal pleasure. Stories for Men will prove ideal.

Contrary to popular belief, the problem with U. S. higher education is not too much politics but too little. Far from being bastions of liberal bias, American universities have largely withdrawn from the world of politics. So conclude Bruce L. R. Smith, Jeremy Mayer, and Lee Fritschler in this illuminating book. Closed Minds? draws on data from interviews, focus groups, and a new national survey by the authors, as well as their decades of experience in higher education to paint the most comprehensive picture to date of campus political attitudes. It finds that while liberals outnumber conservatives within faculty ranks, even most conservatives believe that ideology has little impact on hiring and promotion. Today's students are somewhat more conservative than their professors, but few complain of political bias in the classroom. Similarly, a Pennsylvania legislative inquiry, which the authors explore as a case study of conservative activism in higher education, found that political bias was "rare" in the state's public colleges and universities. Yet this ideological peace on campus has been purchased at a high price. American universities are rarely hospitable to lively discussions of issues of public importance. They largely shun serious political debate, all but ignore what used to be called civics, and take little interest in educating students to be effective citizens. Smith, Mayer, and Fritschler contrast the current climate of disengagement with the original civic mission of American colleges and universities. In concluding, they suggest how universities can reclaim and strengthen their place in the nation's political and civic life.

Contrary to popular belief, the problem with U. S. higher education is not too much politics but too little. Far from being bastions of liberal bias, American universities have largely withdrawn from the world of politics. So conclude Bruce L. R. Smith, Jeremy Mayer, and Lee Fritschler in this illuminating book. Closed Minds?draws on data from interviews, focus groups, and a new national survey by the authors, as well as their decades of experience in higher education to paint the most comprehensive picture to date of campus political attitudes. It finds that while liberals outnumber conservatives within faculty ranks, even most conservatives believe that ideology has little impact on hiring and promotion. Today's students are somewhat more conservative than their professors, but few complain of political bias in the classroom. Similarly, a Pennsylvania legislative inquiry, which the authors explore as a case study of conservative activism in higher education, found that political bias was ""rare"" in the state's public colleges and universities. Yet this ideological peace on campus has been purchased at a high price. American universities are rarely hospitable to lively discussions of issues of public importance. They largely shun serious political debate, all but ignore what used to be called civics, and take little interest in educating students to be effective citizens. Smith, Mayer, and Fritschler contrast the current climate of disengagement with the original civic mission of American colleges and universities. In concluding, they suggest how universities can reclaim and strengthen their place in the nation's political and civic life.