"American higher education was transformed between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I. During this period, U.S. colleges underwent fundamental changes - changes that helped to create the modern university we know today. Most significantly, the study of the sciences and the humanities effectively dissolved the Protestant framework of learning by introducing a new secularized curriculum.

This secularization has long been recognized as a decisive turning point in the history of American education. John Roberts and James Turner identify the forces and explain the events that reformed the college curriculum during this era.".

"The Sacred and the Secular University rewrites the history of higher eduction in the United States. It will interest all readers who are concerned about American universities and about how the content of a "college education" has changed over the course of the last century."--BOOK JACKET.