''God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of "Academic Freedom"'' is a 1951 book by

William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...

, based on his undergraduate experiences at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

. Buckley, then aged 25, criticized Yale for forcing

collectivist Collectivism may refer to: * Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin * Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production * Collectiv ...

Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output a ...

, and

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

ideology on students, criticizing several professors by name, arguing that they tried to break down students' religious beliefs through their hostility to religion and that Yale was denying its students any sense of

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-relia ...

by making them embrace the ideas of

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for co ...

. Buckley argued that the Yale charter assigns oversight authority of the university to the alumni, and that because most alumni of Yale believed in God, Yale was failing to serve its "masters" by teaching course content in a matter inconsistent with alumni beliefs. Buckley eventually became a leading voice in the

American conservative movement Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conservative ...

in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Reviews and legacy

''God and Man at Yale'' received some mixed or harsh reviews when it was first published, including those of

Peter Viereck Peter Robert Edwin Viereck (August 5, 1916 – May 13, 2006) was an American poet and professor of history at Mount Holyoke College. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1949 for the collection ''Terror and Decorum''.McGeorge Bundy McGeorge "Mac" Bundy (March 30, 1919 – September 16, 1996) was an American academic who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 through 1966. He was president of the Ford Foun ...

. Many American academics and pundits underestimated the ultimate impact that the book and its author would have on American society, thinking that it would quickly fade into the background. Quite the opposite happened, as Buckley used it as a launching pad into the public eye. Buckley himself credited the attention his book received to its introduction, written by John Chamberlain, saying that it "chang dthe course of his life" and that the famous ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy trans ...

'' editorial writer had acted out of "reckless generosity". Buckley went on to be an active force in the conservative movement through the political magazine he started, ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

'', and his television show '' Firing Line''. The magazine and its creator played a crucial role in tying together the different factions of the arising conservative movement to form a potent political force.

George Will George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian-conservative political commentator and author. He writes regular columns for ''The Washington Post'' and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC. Gold, Hadas (May 8, 2017)." ...

called the book "a lovers' quarrel with his ''alma mater''". In 2002, the work was featured in the C-SPAN original series '' American Writers: A Journey Through History'', which focused on American writers of significance over the society's first 400 years, in an episode entitled "Writings of Kirk and Buckley". Assessments in 2011, sixty years after publication of the book include: * "All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books" of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' magazine on "the 100 best and most influential ookswritten in English since 1923" (the first publication year of ''Time'') * a ''National Review'' symposium on the book.

Lee Edwards Lee Willard Edwards (born 1932) is an American academic and author, currently a fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He is a historian of the conservative movement in America. Background Edwards was born in Chicago in 1932. Edwards says he was in ...

Alvin S. Felzenberg Alvin S. Felzenberg is an American author, columnist, consultant, educator, historian, public official, and spokesperson. A resident of Palm Beach, Florida and Washington, D.C., he served with the 9/11 Commission and has written books on American ...

, George H. Nash, Charles R. Kesler, and

Danilo Petranovich Danilo is a given name found in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Serbian. Notable people with the name Danilo include: Athletes Footballers * Danilo (footballer, born 1979), Brazilian footballer Danilo de Andrade * Danilo (footballer, born 1 ...

. (November 10, 2011).
"''God and Man at Yale'', Now: WFB's Classic at 60"

References

{{Reflist

Sources

*Godfrey Hodgson (1996), ''The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of Conservative Ascendancy in America''. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...

, pp. 75–77. *"William Buckley". ''American Decades'' CD-ROM. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

External links

* Austin W. Bramwell (Fall 2001)
"The Revolt against the Establishment: God and Man at Yale at 50"
''

The Intercollegiate Review The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsors ...

''. *

Denis Boyles Denis Boyles is a journalist, editor, university lecturer and the author/editor of several books of poetry, travel/history, criticism, humor, practical advice and essays, including ''Design Poetics'' (1975), ''The Modern Man's Guide to Life'' (1986) ...

(February 29, 2008)
"God, Man, Buckley, and Me"
''

''.
Panel discussion on ''God and Man at Yale'', November 4, 2011
C-SPAN 1951 non-fiction books Books by William F. Buckley Jr. Books critical of modern liberalism in the United States Political books Regnery Publishing books Yale University Literary autobiographies