An Academic Life: A Memoir

(Hardback)

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A compelling memoir by the first woman president of a major American university Hanna Holborn Gray has lived her entire life in the world of higher education. The daughter of academics, she fled Hitler's Germany with her parents in the 1930s, emigrating to New Haven, where her father was a professor at Yale University. She has studied and taught

Reviews

"Readers interested in academic administration or the history of American universities would do well to spend a couple hours in Grays edifying company." * Kirkus *
"An engaging recounting of Grays impressive academic and managerial skills that contributed to the advancement of American higher education through the second half of the 20th century."---Elizabeth Hayford, Library Journal
"[An Academic Life] presents the eccentric, and often comedic, charm of the collegiate world. . . . Grays declarative style provides a frank portrayal of academic culture and a refreshing acknowledgment of the constant, changing tensions faced by universities in contemporary society. . . . [D]uring an era when levels of public distrust in universities are high, and the confidence of university leaders is low, her honest narrative reminds us of the importance of the scholarly enterprisewarts and all."---Justin Zaremby, New Criterion
"[An Academic Life] contains magisterial reflections but is also sprightly, often playful, and chockful of entertaining anecdotes."---Robert E. Lerner, National Interest

Author Bio

Hanna Holborn Gray is the Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Early Modern European History at the University of Chicago, where she served as president from 1978 to 1993. She is the author of Searching for Utopia: Universities and Their Histories. She lives in Chicago.