| Finding the Words: The Education of James O. Freedman Contributor(s): Freedman, James O. (Author), Halberstam, David (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 0691129274 ISBN-13: 9780691129273 Publisher: Princeton University Press OUR PRICE: $76.23 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 2007 Annotation: "This is a moving and fascinating account of a bright and ambitious young Jew trying self-consciously to break out of small-town New England to achieve greatness. The story is heroic, but it is not without pathos. This is really a book about books--how beautiful they are, and how the examined life cannot be lived without them, since they have been the mirror in which Freedman learned to see himself."--Stanley N. Katz, Princeton University "From an early age, Freedman fell in love with words and with books, and his book is steeped with accounts of what he read and how it affected him. The book is written by a mind formed by scholarship and--in the most powerful way that I can recall--demonstrates how such a mind is formed. It is an important, indeed vital, contribution to our understanding of liberal education and of the educated mind."--Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs - Education | History |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2006021016 |
| Physical Information: 1.12" H x 6.46" W x 9.32" (1.46 lbs) 360 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: James Freedman, the fifteenth president of Dartmouth College, began life in a struggling middle-class Jewish family in a provincial industrial New Hampshire town. By the time of his death from cancer in March 2006, he was one of the most celebrated educational leaders of his generation, perhaps of the twentieth century. Finding the Words is Freedman's account of the first twenty-seven years of this astonishing trajectory in a life made difficult by depression, but sustained throughout by a love of books and learning, a life that would transform the culture of American higher education. His mother's fierce and bruising ambition instilled in him an overwhelming drive to leave his mark upon the world. His father, a revered high-school English teacher who was timid outside the classroom, introduced him to the rich world of literature--and also passed on to him his doubts and insecurities. Freedman retraces his intellectual formation as a student, educator, scholar, and leader, from his early?obsession with book collecting through his undergraduate years at Harvard and his professional training at Yale Law School. This same passion for language and ideas defined Freedman's leadership at Dartmouth, where he deftly countered lingering anti-Semitism, fought entrenched interests to open the way for women and minorities, reformed and revitalized the curriculum, and boldly reconceived the school's campus. This moving and inspiring book vividly depicts the formative years of a man nourished by lifelong learning, whose rise from humble beginnings to heights of achievement will serve as a model for generations to come. |