Albert Silverstein

When I first came across this book, I was intrigued because the author and I both served as faculty at the same university (in different disciplines: he in Zoology and I in Psychology )over roughly the same time period and I wanted his thoughts on that history. To my delight, I found Dr Heppner's narrative both very informative and wonderfully witty about this recent history. And I would strongly recommend it to any readers who are interested in the recent history of American Universities. Heppner presents this narrative as a series of personal vignettes, the central theme of which is a warning that Academia is drifting to a devaluing of intellectual integrity in the arts and sciences toward a bureaurcratization of academic activities in the service of funding sources The untrammeled growth of requirements stemming from both within college administrations and funding agencies upon scientists and teachers as they strive to gather information and to "educate"" future service providers is presented by Heppner as a major threat to the value of truly academic goals. The narrative of this lively book is organized around both historic and personal themes, and it raises a variety vitally important educational issues with engaging nostalgia,humor and sadness. As I read Heppner's book, I often found myself agreeing with his concerns about the drift of American Universities and what the outcomes of this drift would be in the foreseeable future. Sometimes I would disagree with one of his positions or evaluations. But I always found them challenging and worth thinking about and I always had fun in the process. Heppner has a terrific wealth of detail to illustrate his points about academia and an engaging wittiness in presenting them.;