God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom'

This great book changed me from a conforming liberal in the 1970s to a free-thinking conservative. Buckley's expansive vocabulary and exquisite use of language is an education in and of itself. The principles of open-mindedness and conviction-based living are an important reminder for modern Americans struggling with issues of education against indoctrination, selflesness against self-centeredness, and freedom of thought against institutional group-think. If you have not read this definitive work of a great mind, read it now. If you, like me, read it long ago, you will find Buckley's words as renewing and refreshing as ever.

Implicit in a democracy is the free conversation of ideas. Ideas compete with each other for acceptance by individuals, society as a whole and institutions. One of these institutions is the University. Should the University form the argument or do the professors independently make arguments quite independent what the alumni or University president wants made. Does a University organize around a certain concept or school of thought. Does the University President and trustees form the bases of the argument or do they blindly hire people of a certain criteria and let the pieces fall where they will. William F. Buckley forms the argument that Yale University of the late 1940's and early 1950's has a school of thought about economics, religion, and society that are not consistent with the values and goals of the alumni of the period the book was written. To be sure the University President claims the values taught at Yale were quite by accident protecting the higher value of academic freedom. William F. Buckley goes into some detail about how religion and Christianity is expressed by various faculty who teach to the none theological student. One Professor agressively makes theoutdatedness of Christianity with apologetic type arguments, but mostly through characterization. While a Chrisian professor makes some apologetical arguments and careful not to be offensive to the none Christians. The author also goes into some great detail about the social studies department. William F. Buckley evaluates the economic training at Yale. The role of private enterprize and government in producing and distributing wealth. The author further explains that emphasis on the govermental role and wealth redistribution effect the political thought and occupational goals of the student and recent graduate of the University. He further believes a large portion of the alumni and parents of the student would not be comfortable with what is taught at the University.

Long before the battles between the Randians, Goldwaterites and Rockefeller wing of the GOP; before the Reagan Revolution and the Contract with America, even before Whittaker Chambers' "Witness", there was young Bill Buckley, Russell Kirk and a few little-known economists preaching conservatism. Lost in the McCarthy rhetoric, the underpinnings of conservatism were drowned out, but Buckley was and continues to be a voice that gives it reason.The prescience of this book is in its dissection of liberalism on college campuses, and centers on the modernist swing away from God and towards Man. Buckley's best argument throughout the work might be called the "marketplace of ideas," which today conservatives are winning. He points out the political views of many of the families who send their kids to college, particularly Yale. Most of the parents are found to disagree with the new Leftist stridency of Yale and other colleges, but the parents have little if any choice in the matter of getting their children educated within a more balanced environment. This situation has not gotten better over the years. Reading "God and Man At Yale" teaches us that campus radicalism did not begin during the Vietnam War.STEVEN TRAVERSAUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"[email protected]

This seminal work of one of the most courageous conservative thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries laid the groundwork on which numerous other media voices built. He descrbes how it all started when he was an undergraduate at Yale University from 1946-1950. He writes from his conscious. Buckley is precise in describing how he felt traditional American values were being ignored, undermined, and distorted by academics. He makes his case by citing specific classes, instructors, and textbooks. In the revised edition he brings readers up to date on how critics and the public responded when the book originally came out. Buckley earned the right to be the quintessential role model for conservatives because of his courage and gift of clearly communicating his argument in a logical manner. There are no ad hominem fallacies here or in any of his writings. He confronts isses head on. He even discusses his motive for writing the book by saying it is tied to his love for his alma mater and the country in general. By that he means his desire is for constructive change. It is in pointing out the errors that he hopes to achieve the positive resolutions he seeks. Buckley has remained a voice worthy of an audience in the marketplace of ideas for decades. This is the book that launched him and it is worth reading at any point in time.