Sewanee Sesquicentennial History The Making of the University of the South - Hardcover

Samuel R. Williamson Jr.

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9780918769558: Sewanee Sesquicentennial History The Making of the University of the South

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0918769558 ISBN 13: 9780918769558

Publisher: University of the South, 2008

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Sewanee Sesquicentennial History: The Making of the University of the South is the first comprehensive history of a unique educational institution. Making full use of the University's rich archival resources and of many interviews, the history examines and re-examines every facet of Sewanee's storied past: from the original concepts underlying its creation to the desperate struggle after the Civil War to become a distinctive and effective Episcopal university in the South. Newly discovered documents confirm the offer of the vice-chancellorship to Jefferson Davis, and include correspondence between Vice-Chancellor Benjamin Wiggins and President Theodore Roosevelt. This history traces the constant struggle to raise adequate financial resources, a goal not achieved until the 1980s. Remarkable athletic feats (and defeats), the confrontation and accommodation with the civil rights movement, and the key role played by the University's Board of Trustees are seen in new perspectives.

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About the Author:

Samuel R. Williamson was fourteenth vice-chancellor of the University of the South during the years1988-2000. Born in Louisiana and educated at Tulane and Harvard universities, he taught at the U.S. Military Academy, Harvard University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and at Sewanee. A published scholar on the origins of the First World War and on nuclear strategy, Williamson held administrative positions at Harvard, and then served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and later as provost of the University of North Carolina before coming to Sewanee.

Review:

Of the history of the University of the South is both important and instructive, the tale of bishops and benefactors, of professors and students, of literature and politics and identity. To understand Sewanee is to understand, in a way, the South, the Episcopal Church, and the nation over the last century and a half. In this illuminating and engaging volume, Samuel R. Williamson Jr., historian and vice-chancellor, has brought that story to vivid life, exploring the complexities and contradictions of a university that, like its region and its country, has long struggled with the tangled issues of race, justice and religion. Williamson knows the territory as few can. As the institution's president he was in the arena, a man of the present; as an emeritus professor he has taken on the task of excavating Sewanee's past so that we might better understand where we came from, and where we ought to go. Sewanee itself is an act of faith, and in the pages of Williamson's book you will encounter the men and women who kept the faith, persisting through storm and strife, through good years and lean ones, through moments of crisis and decades of grace and learning and civility. The journey has not always been smooth, but it has never been boring. Williamson's book is an invaluable contribution not only to the people of Sewanee, wherever they may be, but to the history of the South and of the church in times of tumult and, ultimately, of progress. The world is a better place for having Sewanee in it, and Williamson's fine book will tell you why. - Jon Meacham --Jon Meacham Editor of Newsweek

Writing apace in a most perceptive and richly lucid style, Sam Williamson explores the history of the University of the South--the triumphs, the blunders, and high moral aims, the grand achievements and missed opportunities--with a keen eye for the telling detail. Unlike many university histories, this work is no pious rendition that covers up the less uplifting aspects of the past, but instead it demonstrates the humanness of the enterprise and its rich and enduring heritage. - Bertram Wyatt Brown --Bertram Wyatt-Brown, author

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