This book aims to set forth the convergence of institutional and sociological circumstances with intellectual and personal aspirations at the University of Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s under the direction of its fifth president, Robert Maynard Hutchins. Based in part on the author's personal experiences as a student and young faculty member there, the book relates Hutchins' opposition to the departmentalization of learning and his call for reforms in general education which sparked much debate and created a unique institution. The text sketches the interplay of personalities with changing national circumstances during the Depression, war, and postwar eras always focusing on the institutional life of the university and showing how student behavior, staff and faculty activity, and even the Hyde Park neighborhood revolved around the charismatic figure of Hutchins. Central to the story are successive transformations of the College, the undergraduate program, and the ideal of general or liberal education known outside the university by the "Great Books" program. Included are extensive notes to each of six chapters and an index. (JB)