This collection of papers, based on an April 1993 conference at the University of Illinois, mixes theoretical reflection with practical advice concerning academic life in the 1990s. "A Report from the Front," by Cary Nelson and Michael Berube, introduces the collection. Part 1, "Professors and Politics," includes these papers: "Going Public: Political Discourse and the Faculty Voice" (Linda Ray Pratt); "A Faculty Response to the Fiscal Crisis: From Defense to Offense" (Ernst Benjamin); "'Political Correctness' and the Attack on American Colleges" (Paul Lauter); "Cultural Capital and Official Knowledge" (Michael W. Apple); "Another Brick in the Wall: (Re)contextualizing the Crisis" (Carol A. Stabile); "The University and the Media: Apologia Pro Vita Sua with a Defense of Rationality" (Barry R. Gross); "How the Culture Wars Matter: Liberal Historiography, German History, and the Jewish Catastrophe" (Jeffrey Herf); and "Money, Merit, and Democracy at the University: An Exchange." Part 2, "Pedagogy and Populations," contains the following papers: "A Critique of Critical Pedagogy" (Gregory Jay and Gerald Graff); "Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only" (Linda Brodkey); "Beyond the Ivory Tower: Public Intellectuals and the Crisis of Higher Education" (Henry A. Giroux); "'To Sir with Love': National Pedagogy in the Clinton Era" (Judith Frank); "They're Taking Over! and Other Myths about Race on Campus" (Troy Duster); "No Special Rights" (Michael Warner); "The Rhetoric of Crisis in Higher Education" (Joan W. Scott); "The Rise of 'Identity Politics': An Examination and a Critique" (Todd Gitlin); "Contradictions of Existence: Identity and Essentialism" (Cameron McCarthy); "Contesting Racial Amnesia: From Identity Politics toward Post-Multiculturalism" (Michael Dyson); and "Identity and the Status of Afro-American Intellectuals" (Jerry Watts). (Each paper contains references.) (JDD)