Jews in the American academy, 1900-1940

Discusses the process of admission of Jewish academics into American universities. Focuses on the generation born in the 1880s (e.g. Leo Wiener, Harry A. Wolfson, Horace M. Kallen), and on Lionel M. Trilling (born in 1905). Examines their slow progress via professorships in philology, philosophy and, eventually, in English literature, as the latter department tended to see itself as the last bastion of Anglo-Saxon culture. Shows the interaction between these Jewish intellectuals and the universities which were somewhat hostile toward Jews. Discusses Columbia University's anti-Jewish policy with respect to admission of students and appointment of professors and trustees in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, and mentions other universities' reservations toward Jews.