Veritas: Harvard College and the American Experience

Andrew Schlesinger's delightfully anecdotal history of Harvard College traces the conflicts between the forces of truth and its impediments. Sectarianism, statism, aristocracy, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, the shackles of ancient discipline-how Harvard overcame them (or didn't) is the theme of Mr. Schlesinger's fascinating chronicle of a premier American institution. The tale includes a great many familiar names, from the Mathers and the Adamses to the Roosevelts and the Kennedys, and a number of rich happenings: the Butter Rebellion of the undergraduates; President Willard receiving a sack of coins from the Charles River Bridge toll as his salary; Teddy Roosevelt getting tipsy at his Porcellian initiation; the 1939 Communist cell that included the future Librarian of Congress.