In the 1960's, Burton R. Clark wrote THE DISTINCTIVE COLLEGE: ANTIOCH, REED, AND SWARTHMORE. His highly influential book was a best seller of the times which argued, intelligently, that consumers seeking higher liberal arts education do well to avoid "me-too" and "wanna-be" accredited higher ed diploma mills in favor of "distinctive" colleges. Such places, he stated, are known not only for distinguished, high accomplishment, high energy alumni, but also for being genuinely "interesting and distinctive," populated by obviously dynamic and intellectually articulate and outspoken undergraduates. Clark also suggested other guideposts and evidences of "distinctive," meant in a positive, desireable sense.

His book was regarded as very important in a time of high intellectual ferment and soul searching in America, and in the world, generally. It deserved to be.

Of the three "ideal" colleges examined, Clark's obvious favorite was Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, 60 miles north of Cincinnati. The famous school was founded in 1852 by Massachusetts intellectual rebels in the decade prior to the American Civil War of 1861-65, and intended as an alternative to establishment schools of the times, especially Harvard. Horace Mann, then a U.S. congressman, was chosen to serve as Antioch's first president (1852-1859). Prior to his congressional service, Mann had set up the first widespread public education system in the USA (in Massachusetts), and became known as the "father of American public education." Interestingly, his successor, a Dr. Hill, served only briefly as Antioch president before being selected to become president at Harvard in Massachusetts, the school Antioch had been set up to improve upon.

The establishment of Antioch College in Ohio was a national pre-Civil War event, reported in the New York Times and all across the USA, then less than 100 years old. Over the following 149 years (I write this in June, 2001), the New York Times was to devote a great deal of coverage to Antioch College (several pages of the current print version of the NYT Index are devoted to Antioch) as the school repeatedly called attention to itself, its students, and the proposition that higher education in America is not a dull subject. Love it or hate it, no-one could deny that Antioch College in Ohio has always been an "interesting" school, and being "interesting," argued Dr. Clark in the 1960's, is the first and most important quality of "the distinctive college."

Now, the advice of sage Chinese (which is not all of them) on the subjecting of "being interesting" is reflected in a famous Chinese curse which, roughly translated, is "May you be born in interesting times." What does this tell us about "interesting" colleges?

One thing it tells us, by implication, is that any truly "interesting" college is going to experience rough, controversial, and highly risky times, and is likely to be subjected not only to praise and high regard (of the type delivered to Antioch College by Dr. Burton Clark in the 1960's), but also to criticism, unfair and untrue defamation, and even physical attacks. Antioch College in Ohio has experienced all of these, certainly in much higher quantities than the other two "distinctive" colleges mentioned in the title of Clark's book, Reed and Swarthmore (both far quieter, and, one might conclude, less "interesting" places than Antioch).

But like another uniquely American institution, the Mississppi River, Antioch College in Ohio still "keeps rolling along." It's been up (was one of America's most prestigious colleges in the 1950's and 1960's), and it's been down (following problems in the mid-1970's, its prestige dropped quite a bit for a temporary period, then returned in the late 1980's), but it's never been out. A book devoted only to reprints of New York Times coverage of Antioch College in Ohio over 149 years would make interesting reading, and would as well be an important comment on American higher education at its best.

Burton C. Clark's THE DISTINCTIVE COLLEGE: ANTIOCH, REED, AND SWARTHMORE is an important book. Anyone educated in America and anyone who cares about America's contribution to higher education in the 20th Century (and others) should get it and read it.

I just graduated from a high school very similar to Faircrest High. I must say that my own experiences from it compared to the students' in "Doing School" were nearly identical. I kept wondering throughout reading it if Pope had been secretly at my school instead of Faircrest. Truly a must-read for anyone involved in high school curriculum: teachers, administrators, board members, parents, etc.

The author has captured the life and times of a fascinating man by knowing the man from childhood, seeing those times first hand and the use of powerful writing skills. A terrific read.

I loved this book, i think that it is my favourite book i ever read. it really brings the beothuck tribes to life, and tells well of how they lived. Also, i liked the idea of Joan Clark including flashbacks to show how the Viking Thrand's(or Wobee) family, and people, lived. i recomend this book to anybody who likes adventure novels.

I have a 2 year old son who LOVES this book! We originally checked it out from the library, but ended up buying our own copy. It's a very original adaptation of the traditional song. The illustrations are very creative as well. The surprise ending is great!

Great book for any young child!

Actually the version of Early Man I'm reviewing is the 1968 revised edition. Originally published in 1965 (and apparently the book continued to be revised in 1981), this is a very interesting, albeit very outdated book about prehistoric Man. This book really has some very deep nostalgic value for me as it's been with me since I was a little kid, my parents found a used copy of this book in 1979, and when I got a hold of the book, I absolutely loved the photos in it. One of my favorites have been the front cover which is the skull of a Neandrathal Man, not to mention the picture inside the book of Laugerie Basse in France which is a hanging cliff, and I just dig the buildings under the cliffs, including a restaurant. Laugerie Basse happened to be an area where Cro-Magnon Man inhabited. In this book you get plenty of illustrations of bones, skulls, artifacts, caves, tools, spears made from rocks, and so much more. I give it a very high rating because to this day, I still dig the pictures. Back when I was a kid I was interested in how Man lived in prehistoric time, and this book really satisfied my desire. Of course the book is grossly outdated, but if you don't mind that and curious about prehistoric Man, try this book.

As a practising Paediatrician, I find diagnosing congential heart diseases in newborn a challenge. This book has a evidence based step by step guide. The authors have done an excellent job in making this book easy to read and understand. I feel this book is an essential guide to Paediatric Cardiologist or Neonatologist in training.

I read this book over 10 years ago, and have not forgotten it. It is a wonderful evocation of day to day life in a small English village during "The Great War". Not a description of the war itself, but rather of the life of the village people during the war, and how they were impacted by the events of war, this book fleshes out the war as it was lived by non-combatants. I highly recommend it.

Hess and Ross' textbook is the best I have seen yet. It is well-balanced and covers the entire range of subjects that a textbook of this nature should. As a development economist, I have found it of great assistance in my research projects. Development economics has come a long way in the treatment of such an immense and complex subject. This textbook is the culmination of such advances made in development thinking. A true achievement which, I hope, will see a second, updated edition soon.

In 1906 photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis held the last showings of his large-format, large-scale platinum exhibition prints at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel and at Boston's St Botolph Club. He had gotten banker John Pierpont Morgan to agree to help pay for a complete photographic record of Native American life. So he sold his larger exhibition prints to Dr Charles Goddard Weld, who then gave the 108 photographs to what is now the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem, Massachusetts. My sculptress mother and artist sister had already shared with me Curtis's pictorialist photography: so in my opinion THE MASTER PRINTS from these last two exhibitions are excellent examples of how the artist-photographer used chiaroscuro effects, close-ups and soft-focus lenses for dramatic and focused lighting, dark backgrounds for adding or subtracting details, and romantic poses to bring out strong personality and sweeping landscape. The book has helpful, to-the-point, well-written foreword, appreciation, afterword, and notes: I find it interesting that the prints might have been made with just an old German lens and a heavy-to-carry 14x17 view plate camera and that all the head and shoulder shots were taken in a tent lined with maroon-colored material and under lighting controlled by a skylight opening on one side. And I particularly like the prints that give a sense of place, such as the clearly photographed nature in "The Mojave water carrier," "Out of the forest depth" and "Taos water carriers"; a sense of family, such as "Hava Supai home," "Inuit hut and family," and Yakutat Indian seal hunter's hut"; a sense of community, such as Acoma and Walpi street scenes, "Apache camp" and "Apache village," "Blackfoot encampment," "Census hogan," "Estufa of San Ildefonso," "Mishongnovi," and [Tlinkit] "Council house"; and a sense of daily activity, such as "Threshing wheat," "Winnowing wheat," "Washing wheat," "Drying wheat," and "Hopi girls grinding peke bread meal." So the book's collection of photographic artistry works especially well with Shannon Lowry's NATIVES OF THE FAR NORTH, THE PLAINS INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHS, and THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN: THE COMPLETE PORTFOLIOS.