City of Intellect
The Uses and Abuses of the University

A personal and thoughtfully candid account of the multiple crises around the place of the university in our contemporary world.

Nicholas B. Dirks (Author)

9781009394468, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 November 2023

390 pages
22.3 x 15 x 2.6 cm, 0.61 kg

'A book that's as important as it is interesting.' Reid Hoffman, Long Reids

During his four years as the tenth Chancellor of Berkeley (2013–17), Nicholas B. Dirks was confronted by crises arguably more challenging than those faced by any other college administrator in the contemporary period. This thoughtfully candid book, emerging from deep reflection on his turbulent time in office, offers not just a gripping insider's account of the febrile politics of his time as Berkeley's leader, but also decades of nuanced reflection on the university's true meaning (at its best, to be an aspirational 'city of intellect'). Dirks wrestles with some of the most urgent questions with which educational leaders are presently having to engage: including topics such as free speech and campus safe spaces, the humanities' contested future, and the real cost and value of liberal arts learning. His visionary intervention – part autobiography, part practical manifesto – is a passionate cri de cœur for structural changes in higher education that are both significant and profound.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. A Personal History: 1. The Professor
2. The Dean
3. Chancellor tales
Part II. A History of the Future: 4. Genealogies of the university
5. Ideas of the university
6. The multiversity
7. Reimagining the university
Afterword
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Educational strategies & policy [JNF]