Winner of the 2002 Alice L. Beeman Research Award for Outstanding Writing about Communications from the Council for Advancement and Support of EducationAmong higher education institutions in the United States, for-profit colleges and universities have steadily captured a larger share of the student market. A recent trend at for-profit institutions is the coupling of job training with accredited academic programs that offer traditional baccalaureate, professional, and graduate degre...

While he celebrated higher education as the engine of progress in every aspect of American life, George Keller also challenged academia’s sacred cows and entrenched practices with provocative ideas designed to induce “creative discomfort.” Completed shortly before his death in 2007, Higher Education and the New Society caps the career of one of higher education’s exceptional minds.Refining and expanding ideas Keller developed over his fifty-year career, this book is a clar...

George Keller’s case study of Elon University’s transformation from a struggling college with a limited endowment into a top regional university is now available in paperback.Ten years after the publication of Transforming a College, Elon University continues to thrive as a school that reinvented itself and its community around the idea of inspiring and guiding students. George Keller’s now-classic account has been used as an inspiration and playbook for m...

In the middle of a church service, a man is struck by a sense of dread. As impassioned organ music fills the building, the man senses that the source of his anxiety is coming from a hostile organist. What is the root of the musician’s animosity? Is it real, or is the narrator just imagining it? This quick, suspenseful story from The King in Yellow gives readers a taste of Chambers’ mastery of the horror genre.

With this 1990 speech, American politician William Jennings Bryan presents a compelling argument against imperialism. He outlines how maintaining military force over other nations goes against core American values. The speech highlights specific issues that were current at the time, particularly US relations with Cuba and the Philippines. Though the speech is over 100 years old, its core points about American democracy ring true in contemporary foreign affairs.

D.L. Moody dedicated his life to revival preaching and famously established the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. In this sermon, he teaches that being “born again” in the Christian tradition is not about going to church, being baptized, being confirmed, saying prayers, or reading the Bible—it’s about an inward change of heart. He remarks, “Every one should inquire, Have I been born of the Spirit?—have I passed from death unto life?—or am I building my hopes of Heaven on some form?” Though...

Congregationalist minister Harvey Newcomb wrote countless volumes of spiritual advice for adults and children alike. He compiled this guide for young people seeking to develop a deeper understanding of the Bible. His advice spans general guidelines for when, where, and how, as well as a detailed guide to systematic study. “To a true child of God,” he writes, “nothing is so precious as the volume of inspiration.

The period known as the Avignon Papacy began in 1309, when Pope Clement V relocated the seat of papal power to Avignon, France. The French monarchy slowly gained control over the papacy during this time, and as they did, corruption and greed grew in the church. The troubadour and priest Raimon de Cornet staunchly opposed the Avignon Papacy for these reasons. He summarized his grievances in this noteworthy poem, in which he states, “I see the pope his sacred trust betray, / For while the ri...

In 1520, Martin Luther debated Catholic theologian Johann Eck in Leipzig—and lost. After the debate, the pope threatened Luther with excommunication. He responded by writing this address to the German nobility, urging them to consider his reforms for the church. He argues that the Catholic church abuses undue power, and asks, “If we rightly hang thieves and behead robbers, why do we leave the greed of Rome unpunished?”

From his Washington Park studio, Scott can see the sinister watchman of a nearby church. His model, Tessie, tells him the watchman shares the face of a hearse driver who’s been appearing in her dreams. Scott grows more and more unsettled by the watchman, until one day, he hears the man mumble something from a mysterious play that always signals trouble: The King in Yellow. Readers of “The Yellow Sign” will be left questioning the boundaries between reality, dream, and fiction.

When an American sea captain sees a Spanish slave ship in distress, he reaches out with an offer to help. Once on board, however, the odd behavior of the captain, crew, and slaves leave him with an uneasy feeling that something is not as it seems. Melville based the plot of this novella on real events that occurred off the coast of Chile in 1799. Though it is not Melville’s best-known work, it is favored among scholars as one of his most complex.

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses started the schism in the Catholic church that led to the Reformation. He penned this text out of frustration with the church’s sale of indulgences, which were documents granting forgiveness for sins on behalf of the purchaser or the individual of their choosing. Luther argued that forgiveness cannot be purchased with money; it can only be granted through true repentance. With this text, Luther presents 95 theological propositions for debate, and while he didn’t k...