Delbanco explains how the idea of college arose in the colonial period from the Puritan idea of the gathered church, how it struggled to survive in the nineteenth century in the shadow of the new research universities, and how, in the twentieth century, it slowly opened its doors to women, minorities, and students from low-income families. He describes the unique strengths of America's colleges in our era of globalization and, while recognizing the...

Looking for adventure and a new life, Ishmael, the story's narrator, decides to find work on a whaling boat. On arriving at the Massachusetts harbour to begin his search, the only bed available is already half occupied by a "cannibal" named Queequeg. Although Queequeg has limited English, a friendship forms and the two men sign up for work together aboard the Pequod under the infamous Captain Ahab.

Five stories by the nineteenth-century American writer best known for his tales of horror.

Is college worth the cost? Groundbreaking filmmaker Andrew Rossi asks the critical question about the value of higher education, revealing how colleges have come to embrace a business model that often promotes expansion over quality learning. With student-loan debt now over the one trillion dollar mark, the once-great American institution is at a breaking point. The film explores the current education crisis from the halls of Harvard, to community...