Michael Bérubé

What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts?

Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education

“A sensitive, sensible, and compelling account of American education at its best.”—Philadelphia Inquirer

Described as one of the “101 Most Dangerous Academics in America” by right-wing critic David Horowitz, Michael Bérubé has become a leading liberal voice in the ongoing culture wars. This “smooth and swift read” (New Criterion) offers a definitive rebuttal of conservative activists’ most incendiary claims about American universities, and in the process makes a supple case for liberalism itself. An important polemic as well as “a clear-eyed, occasionally quite humorous account of the joys and frustrations of running a college classroom” (New York Observer), this book is required reading for anyone concerned about the political climate on and off campus.

“Bérubé is no doubt a terrific teacher, the liveliness of his mind ... demonstrates what is really admirable about the liberal arts.”—Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review

“A passionate appeal for preserving the best notions of the liberal-arts education.”—Booklist

Michael Bérubé is a professor of literature at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Life As We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.