Killing the Spirit

Book excerpt: In contrast to the neo-conservative critique of academic leftists (see LA227), Smith, author of the eight-volume A People's history of the United States, goes for the right target--the institution, not the individual. The problems: academic fundamentalism; the flight from teaching due to tenure requirements; the worthlessness of most research and the mediocrity of most monographs; the narrowing of the disciplines; the dominance of the "scientific" approach--dispassionate, distant, objective. No bibliography. (RC) Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR