Michael Bérubé 
What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts?: Classroom Politics and ‘Bias’ in Higher Education 

‘A sensitive, sensible, and compelling account of American education at its best.’—Philadelphia Inquirer

Described as one of the ‘101 Most Dangerous Academics in America’ by right-wing critic David Horowitz, Michael Bérubé has become a leading liberal voice in the ongoing culture wars. This ‘smooth and swift read’ (
New Criterion) offers a definitive rebuttal of conservative activists’ most incendiary claims about American universities, and in the process makes a supple case for liberalism itself. An important polemic as well as ‘a clear-eyed, occasionally quite humorous account of the joys and frustrations of running a college classroom’ (
New York Observer), this book is required reading for anyone concerned about the political climate on and off campus.

About the author

Michael Bérubé is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature at Penn State University and a former president of the Modern Language Association. From 2010 to 2017, he served as the director of Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities. He is the author of ten books, including What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts  Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education and Life As We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Janet Lyon, and their son, Jamie Bérubé.