"This essential history of American higher education builds from the ground up, shedding light on the full, diverse of range of institutions--including small liberal arts schools, junior and community colleges, and state colleges--that have been instrumental in creating the higher education system we know today. A People's History of American Higher Education focuses on those participants who may not have been members of elite groups, yet who helped push elite institutions and the country as a whole towards different goals and behaviors. This pathbreaking textbook addresses key issues which have often been condemned to exceptions and footnotes--if not ignored completely--in historical considerations of U.S. higher education: particularly race, ethnicity, gender, and class. Hutcheson introduces readers to both social and intellectual history, providing invaluable perspectives and methodologies for graduate students and faculty members alike. A People's History of American Higher Education surveys the varied characteristics of the diverse populations constituting or striving for the middle class through educational attainment, providing a narrative that unites often divergent historical fields. The author engages readers in a powerful, revised understanding of what institutions and participants beyond the oft-cited 'dead white men' have done for American higher education"-- Provided by publisher.