{"title":"William Whyte","description":"\u003cp\u003eWilliam Whyte’s works delve into the rich fabric of history, offering insightful explorations of academic institutions and their evolving roles in society. His writing combines rigorous research with accessible prose, inviting readers to engage thoughtfully with themes of tradition, change, and the passage of knowledge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders interested in the intersections of history and social development will find Whyte’s perspectives both illuminating and nuanced. His books serve as a thoughtful guide through the complexities of historical narratives within educational and cultural contexts.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-university-by-william-whyte-9780674495180","title":"The University","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA sweeping history of the buildings and materials that have shaped nine centuries of university life, from parchments and silk robes to glass atriums and sprawling parking lots.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe often idealise the university as a sanctuary for disinterested reason, where material concerns are set aside in favour of higher principles. Yet when we remember our own college experiences, what springs to mind are not just lofty concepts but also material realities: cramped dorm rooms and musty library stacks, gothic towers and freshly mowed quads.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe University\u003c\/em\u003e puts such seemingly inconsequential details at the centre of the institution’s 900-year history. Constructing each chapter around an emblematic material—straw, stone, flesh, blood, silk, paper, iron, and concrete—William Whyte traces the intimate connections between the university’s shifting physical form and its evolving social and cultural meanings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the medieval University of Paris, where students purchased bundles of straw to use as chairs in otherwise-unfurnished classrooms, to the ocean of concrete at postcolonial Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo University, Whyte shows how competing visions of higher learning left their imprint on generations of university architecture, landscaping, and furniture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, he highlights perennial fears that, within the social space of the university, the life of the mind would recede before worldly interests: that student bloodlines would be tainted by racial intermixing, that courting donors with buildings named in their honour would become more important than research and education, that the allure of powdered wigs and silk gowns would undermine scholarly discipline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA richly textured chronicle, \u003cem\u003eThe University\u003c\/em\u003e concludes that, even in the age of remote learning, the college campus is irreplaceable. The future of higher education includes fibre-optic cables, but stone, brick, and steel are here to stay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48038576750828,"sku":"9780674495180","price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780674495180-the-university.jpg?v=1785393887"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/william-whyte.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}