Enemies of Promise: Publishing, Perishing, and the Eclipse of Scholarship

by Lindsay Waters

Overview

Why should books drive the academic hierarchy? This controversial question posed by Lindsay Waters ignited fierce debate in the academy and its presses, as he warned that the "publish or perish" dictum was breaking down the academic system in the United States. Waters hones his argument in this pamphlet with a new set of questions that challenge the previously unassailable link between publishing and tenure.

As one of the most important and innovative editors in the humanities and social sciences, Waters has long witnessed the self-destruction occurring in the academic world because of the pressure to publish. Drawing upon his years of experience, he reveals how this principle is destroying the quality of educational institutions and the ideals of higher learning. It is time for scholars to rise up, Waters argues, and reclaim the governance of their institutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780972819657
Publisher:	Prickly Paradigm Press
Publication date:	05/24/2004
Edition description:	1
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.10(d)

About the Author

Lindsay Waters is Executive Editor for the Humanities at Harvard University Press, where he has been since 1984. From 1978 to 1984, he was an editor at the University of Minnesota Press, where he developed the theory and History of Literature series. His books Against Authoritarian Aesthetics appeared in putonghua from Peking University Press in 2000.

Editorial Reviews

"Waters gives pained and expert attention to a major crisis in higher education. It is relevant not only to scholarly practise but to the conduct of academic publishers. The enemy is large and menacing, but the fight is a noble one."

Sir Frank Kermode

"Lindsay Waters, executive editor for the Humanities at Harvard University Press, has issued a challenge to academics and publishers: to publish less, with more relevance. . . . Waters criticizes the 'publish-or-perish' mentality that has produced an avalanche of books of little or no importance."

Estados

"With great vigor, Enemies of Promise takes on the commericalization of the university generally and publishing specifically."

New York Times - Russell Jacoby

"Eye-opening, deeply troubling, eloquent, and compelling."

Luc Sante

"A thought-provoking study of a different kind."

Irish Times - Andreas Hess

"Waters has done the world of ideas a service in writing about its infrastructure frankly, thoughtfully, and for the most part, readably . . . I recommend it to every academic, including scientists."

Times Higher Education Supplement - Andrew Robinson

"Enemies of Promise is a humdinger about the crisis in academic publishing, where the 'publish or perish' imperative has created towers of books that no one reads, even the professoriate. Author Lindsay Waters . . . paints an alarming picture of a bloated assembly line fueled by careerism and dedicated to mediocrity."

WBUR Boston Public Radio - Bill Marx

"Waters gives pained and expert attention to a major crisis in higher education. It is relevant not only to scholarly practise but to the conduct of academic publishers. The enemy is large and menacing, but the fight is a noble one."—Sir Frank Kermode

Frank Kermode