Someone forced to read such blather in the twilight of a long, illustrious academic career deserves to have a voice in the culture wars. And unlike most of the wars' combatants, Kernan speaks from 50 years of experience as a student, professor and university administrator. During the course of his career, Kernan has had the Forrest Gump-like knack for witnessing some of the most important changes in the modern American university. He was a beneficiary of the GI Bill, participated in the birth of New Criticism, lived through the introduction of coeducation, observed from close range the New Haven Black Panther trial and worked at Yale's English department during the Paul De Man Nazi scandal. He is a cultural conservative, and for this reason his book will be sure to draw vitriol. But he makes a very convincing, surprisingly cool-headed analysis of the recent trends toward democratizing the American university. And he is actually capable of nuance, something we haven't seen much of recently. He is leery of deconstruction, but does not dismiss all modern theory as pudwhackery. For example, he welcomes existentialism because "It was good for literature ... The majority of literary characters are, like Hamlet and Emma Bovary, existential heroes."

Kernan's arguments are so well-balanced, in fact, that it is just that much more disappointing when he reveals his alarming biases. One of these is his unhealthy disrespect for all undergraduates from the beginning of time to the present, whom he collectively refers to as "Smithers." Furthermore, his astonishingly dated description of Jews makes one question just how aware Kernan could have been of the changes around him: "They seemed wise beyond their years in their Talmudic understanding that there are many ways of getting at texts, and they had the great advantage of seldom drinking alcohol." Whoa. Where's he been the last 50 years, golfing with Joe Kennedy Sr.? Perhaps he should keep his compliments to himself. At least he didn't say that some of his best friends are Jews.

Despite these considerable rough edges, "In Plato's Cave" is one of the few middle-ground critiques that have emerged on the culture wars. Perhaps his reserve arises from the fact that he doesn't want to bite the hand that fed him; he himself benefited from the largesse of the GI Bill, without which he would not have been able to afford college. The bill drew all manner of criticism. Kernan cites a report called "The Threat to American Education," written by Robert Hutchins, then University of Chicago president. Hutchins predicted that, as a result of the GI Bill, "Universities will find themselves converted into educational hobo jungles." Fortunately for all of us, his opinion didn't matter. Two million servicemen went to college on the government's dime. As a result, the number of colleges doubled over the next few decades. And though some would refuse to admit it, this influx of new students raised academic standards. At Yale, for example, a course called Daily Themes was introduced in the late 1940s. Its opponents argued that Yale students would never enter a course in which they were required to do work every day. Largely owing to the knowledge-hungry ex-GIs, the course flourished and continues to be oversubscribed every year.

Kernan takes the Hegel-lite view that historical events arise out of necessity and in response to other forces. He reminds us that every dubious turn taken by American universities was an attempt to avoid a fate that could have been far worse.

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