This book does not resonate with my experiences teaching at a public research university in the slightest. It's interesting as a case study -- although the anonymizing that is meant to keep people from being distracted by specifics is itself distracting. The discussion of faculty unionization is surprising. But overall I think it is way too optimistic about the wisdom of market forces and the generosity in the "DNA" of public universities.

One of my 2025 goals is to read more nonfiction. This came across my shelf and seemed pertinent to me: though not a scholar of the university system, it’s a system I’ve been tied to as an undergraduate and graduate student.

Clear and thoroughly structured, but sometimes at the cost of being dense or tedious to read. Naturally, a great deal of data and examples goes into a book of this caliber. Not necessarily something I’d pick up as an everyday read.

Waffling between 3.5 and 4 stars, but I think the book is really solid—perhaps I am not the perfect audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the ARC.

As a scholar, and a citizen who frequently thinks about the position of higher education, I benefited a lot from this book where we a detailed exploration of how the public university functions, via one public research university - where the money is spent was a topic that particularly gave me fresh insights.
If you wish to learn more about how public universities changed and function, I recommend this book. It may be one of the few and one of the best of those few books about this topic.