Read the news about America's colleges and universities - rising student debt, affirmative action debates, and conflicts between faculty and administrators - and it's clear that higher education in this country is a total mess. But as David F. Labaree reminds us in this book, it's always been that way. And that's exactly why it has become the most successful and sought-after source of learning in the world. Detailing American higher education's unusual...

"The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson's Idea of a University is an accounting of Jefferson creating the University of Virginia. Using a biographical approach, this book shows that his vision did much to anticipate the modern university and that it was influential in the development of American higher education. Furthermore, the university distinguishes Jefferson as an advocate of a public education system"--