This guide to selecting a graduate school in the humanities and social science fields focuses on the individual disciplines; identifies "standard-bearing" institutions, as well as good but lesser known ones; and reviews specific intellectual issues within various disciplines as they relate to graduate school choice. After an introductory chapter, the three chapters in Part 1 discuss the rise of the research scholar, the admissions process, and finances. Part 2 contains an introductory chapter on the role of disciplines today, followed by chapters on the following specific disciplines: art history, classics, comparative literature, English, film studies, American history, European history, French, German, Spanish, musicology, philosophy, religion, women's studies, anthropology, archaeology, communication, economics, geography, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. An appendix lists, by area of study, the names of individuals hired by specific four-year colleges in the United States for full-time junior faculty positions (tenure and nontenure track) for fall 1996 and the institution at which each individual trained. (DB)