This is a piece I published in Aeon in October, 2017. It provides an overview of my book that came out that year, "A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendancy of American Higher Education (University of Chicago Press). From the perspective of 19th-century visitors to the United States, the country’s system of higher education was a … Continue reading An Unlikely Triumph: How US Higher Education Went from Rags in the 19th Century to Riches in the 20th
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 