This paper reviews the history of higher education since 1945, emphasizing its rapid growth in a changing American culture which has demanded greater access to higher education. Following an introduction, part 1 focuses on the period from 1945 to 1970, characterized by explosive. It discusses veterans and equality of opportunity after the war, influences of the pre-war period, and the reasons for increased demand for higher education. Part 2 considers the period from 1970 to 1990, seen as a time of increasing stresses in higher education, including a trend toward questioning the worth of college, decreases in the proportions of entering students completing a degree, and a "price-income squeeze" experienced by institutions. Part 3 addresses trends in learning and the organization of knowledge over the entire period 1945-90. These trends include the separation of science and morality, the triumph of research and methodology, the growth of economics as a discipline, and major changes in the discipline of philosophy. The paper concludes by discussing some current issues in the ongoing learning conversation between faculty and students, such as the increasing intrusion of values into scholarship, the growth of ethnographic research, and interdisciplinary research and teaching. (Contains 62 references.) (DB)