As president of the University of Chicago from 1929 to 1951, Robert Maynard Hutchins came to be one of the most prominent and controversial figures in American higher education. To this day, his vision of what the university should be has given shape to twentieth-century debates over the content and function of education in the United States. In her critical biography, the first to focus on Hutchins' University of Chicago decades, Mary Ann Dzuback gives a full and fascinating account of this complex man—his development, his achievements and failures, and finally, his legacy.

The inauguration of Robert Maynard Hutchins as the fifth President of the University of Chicago in 1929 coincided with a drastically changed social and economic climate throughout the world. And Hutchins himself opened an era of tumultuous reform and debate within the University. In the midst of the changes Hutchins started and the intense feelings they stirred, William H. McNeill arrived at the University to pursue his education. In Hutchins' University he tells what it was like to come of age as a undergraduate in those heady times. Hutchins' scathing opposition to the departmentalization of learning and his resounding call for reforms in general education sparked controversy and fueled debate on campus and off. It became a struggle for the heart and soul of higher education—and McNeill, as a student and then as an instructor, was a participant. His account of the university's history is laced with personal reminiscences, encounters with influential fellow scholars such as Richard McKeon, R. S. Crane, and David Daiches, and details drawn from Hutchins' papers and other archives. McNeill sketches the interplay of personalities with changing circumstances of the Depression, war, and postwar eras. But his central concern is with the institutional life of the University, showing how student behavior, staff and faculty activity and even the Hyde Park neighborhood all revolved around the charismatic figure of Robert Maynard Hutchins—shaped by him and in reaction against him. Successive transformations of the College, and the tribulations of the ideal of general or liberal education are central to much of the story; but the memoir also explores how the University was affected by such events as Red scares, the remarkably successful Round Table radio broadcasts, the abolition of big time football, and the inauguration of the nuclear age under the west stands of Stagg Field in 1942. In short, Hutchins' University sketches an extraordinarily vibrant period for the University of Chicago and for American higher education. It will revive old controversies among veterans from those times, and may provoke others to reflect anew about the proper role of higher education in American society.

"Mayer's memoir is by far the most exciting Hutchins book ever. His style, wit, and passion--and his insight--put it into a class by itself."--Studs Terkel "Mayer's memoir is by far the most exciting Hutchins book ever. His style, wit, and passion--and his insight--put it into a class by itself."--Studs Terkel

Speeches and a short letter by Robert M. Hutchins. The materials include a short letter from Hutchins addressed to Miss Hazel Dreis of New Mexico, dated 14 October 1940. He thanks her for her compliments regarding his address and, in appreciation, includes 2 printed copies of his speech, "What the university celebrates: address by President Robert M. Hutchins, at the commemorative chapel service inaugurating the fiftieth anniversary year of the University of Chicago," which he delivered at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on 8 October 1940. Also included is a 7-page typed manuscript copy of "America and the war: address by Robert M. Hutchins, president of University of Chicago," delivered as a radio broadcast on 23 January 1941.