CAMBRIDGE U.S.A.: ?lub of a New World

by Christopher Rand ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Those who can't do, teach,"" so twinkled Shaw; however, time's proved him wrong. An entente cordiale between Academe and Government and the Foundations now mushrooms all over, especially at Cambridge, home of Harvard and M.I.T. Why this is so, what goes on there, and how this has produced a seemingly contradictory ""critical mass"" (of. atomic fission: particles interacting increasingly with no outside help) is the substance of these articles, printed originally in The New Yorker and written with that magazine's customary clarity, intelligence and fine nose for the topical. Its thesis presents the professors of the physical and social sciences, i.e. the exponents of the New Technology, as the growing power behind the throne. Cambridge's munition plants, space-and-missile labs, computer complexes and international research centers are really Big Business, acknowledged as such by Washington (government contracts), by the Ford and Rockefeller millions, and by the underdeveloped nations (acedemicians-as-advisors flying hither and thither). There are telling sketches of people like Zacharius and Skinner, observations on the conflict between scholarly and political pursuits and on the difficult town-and-gown relations, and appraisals of the university-centered community as a forthcoming social movement, something a good deal more encompassing and ""threatening"" than one might imagine. Fine, fluent reportage, heartily recommended to all.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION