{"product_id":"capital-of-mind-the-idea-of-a-modern-american-university-9780226829203","title":"Capital of Mind: The Idea of a Modern American University","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe second volume of an ambitious new economic history of American higher education.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCapital of Mind\u003c\/i\u003e is the second volume in a breathtakingly ambitious new economic history of American higher education. Picking up from the first volume, \u003ci\u003eExchange of Ideas\u003c\/i\u003e, Adam R. Nelson looks at the early decades of the nineteenth century, explaining how the idea of the modern university arose from a set of institutional and ideological reforms designed to foster the mass production and mass consumption of knowledge. This \"industrialization of ideas\" mirrored the industrialization of the American economy and catered to the demands of a new industrial middle class for practical and professional education. From Harvard in the north to the University of Virginia in the south, new experiments with the idea of a university elicited intense debate about the role of scholarship in national development and international competition, and whether higher education should be supported by public funds, especially in periods of fiscal austerity. The history of capitalism and the history of the university, Nelson reveals, are intimately intertwined--which raises a host of important questions that remain salient today. How do we understand knowledge and education as commercial goods? Should they be public or private? Who should pay for them? And, fundamentally, what is the optimal system of higher education for a capitalist democracy?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam R. Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is author of \u003ci\u003eThe Elusive Ideal: Equal Educational Opportunity and the Federal Role in Boston's Public Schools, 1950-1985\u003c\/i\u003e (also published by the University of Chicago Press), among other books. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50456470290706,"sku":"9780226829203","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ec9397e0-711c-4d32-aa8f-3a406586a5eb.jpg?v=1729910971","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/capital-of-mind-the-idea-of-a-modern-american-university-9780226829203","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}