Backcasts: A Global History of Fly Fishing and Conservation. Edited by Samuel Snyder, Bryon Borgelt, and Elizabeth Tobey; Foreword by Jen Corrinne Brown; Epilogue by Chris Wood. Chicago (Illinois): University of Chicago Press. $45.00. xv + 422 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-226-36657-9 (hc); 978-0-226-36660-9 (eb). 2016.

2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-459
Author(s):  
Peter J. Park
Keyword(s):  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Global History ◽  
Fly Fishing ◽  
History Of ◽  
University Of Chicago Press

John W. Boyer, The University of Chicago: A History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 676pp. ISBN: 9780226242514

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger L. Geiger
Keyword(s):  
Higher Learning ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Democratic Institution ◽  
American Universities ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of The University ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Chicago Press

This chapter reviews the book The University of Chicago: A History (2015), by John W. Boyer. Founded in 1892, the University of Chicago is one of the world’s great institutions of higher learning. However, its past is also littered with myths, especially locally. Furthermore, the university has in significant ways been out of sync with the trends that have shaped other American universities. These issues and much else are examined by Boyer in the first modern history of the University of Chicago. Aside from rectifying myth, Boyer places the university in the broader history of American universities. He suggests that the early University of Chicago, in its combination of openness and quality, may have been the most democratic institution in American higher education. He also examines the reforms that overcame the chronic weaknesses that had plagued the university.

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