Thomas Jefferson had a radical dream for higher education. Designed
to become the first modern public university, the University of
Virginia was envisioned as a liberal campus with no religious
affiliation, with elective courses and student self-government.
Nearly two centuries after the university's creation, its success
now seems preordained-its founder, after all, was a great American
genius. Yet what many don't know is that Jefferson's university
almost failed. In Rot, Riot, and Rebellion, award-winning
journalists Rex Bowman and Carlos Santos offer a dramatic
re-creation of the university's early struggles. Political enemies,
powerful religious leaders, and fundamentalist Christians fought
Jefferson and worked to thwart his dream. Rich students, many from
southern plantations, held a sense of honor and entitlement that
compelled them to resist even minor rules and regulations. They
fought professors, townsfolk, and each other with guns, knives, and
fists. In response, professors armed themselves-often with good
reason: one was horsewhipped, others were attacked in their
classrooms, and one was twice the target of a bomb. The university
was often broke, and Jefferson's enemies, crouched and ready to
pounce, looked constantly for reasons to close its doors. Yet from
its tumultuous, early days, Jefferson's university-a cauldron of
unrest and educational daring-blossomed into the first real
American university. Here, Bowman and Santos bring us into the life
of the University of Virginia at its founding to reveal how this
once shaky institution grew into a novel, American-style university
on which myriad other U.S. universities were modeled.
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