From Columbia to Caltech, the second Trump administration has borne down on universities as part of a wider campaign to upend the knowledge systems and deliberative institutions that have been essential to modern democracy. But this isn’t the first time American universities have faced down such a threat. In The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning, literary and film critic James Chandler spotlights an American tradition of hostility to intellectual life.

But the discourse surrounding MAGA’s assault on universities goes beyond the book. You can read expanded thoughts from Chandler and fresh commentary from our other contributors here in the coming weeks and months.

Expert voices will weigh in here on The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning.

Pundits, professors, and politicians are discussing The Know-Nothing Campaign and its concerns across media and the university ecosystem.

Learn more about James Chandler’s The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning at Prickly Paradigm Press.