Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education Harry. R. Lewis

This sounds intriguing enough: it's compared with The Closing of the American Mind, one of the books that got us out of engineering and into history. The topic is more narrowly aimed at Harvard—perennially a good target because of it's mythic stature—but the lessons swing wider.

It's a good time to remember that not one of America's 50 best universities recently required an American History class of its students. Few students of any age or class will have written a paper on the life of a Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Churchill, St. Gregory, or any other non-popstar.

The Wall Street Journal has a review today.