William C. Kirby

A Marginal Revolution Best Non-fiction Book "[A] fascinating book." – Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed "Substantive on virtually every page, the author actually understands how universities work…An impressive performance." - Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "With his extraordinary breadth of curiosity and equal ease in the histories and cultures of these countries, only Bill Kirby could have written this book. It...

The modern university was born in Germany. In the twentieth century, the United States leapfrogged Germany to become the global leader in higher education. Will China challenge its position in the twenty-first? Today American institutions dominate nearly every major ranking of global universities. Yet in historical terms, America's preeminence is relatively new, and there is no reason to assume that...