What people are saying about
KENNETH LASSON'S TREMBLING IN THE IVORY TOWER

" It is rare that a really important book is also very witty, easily readable, and fun. With Trembling in the Ivory Tower, Kenneth Lasson has pulled off a real coup. This book will be talked about in the groves of academe as well as around the water coolers. Read it and weep, but laugh out loud, too."
-- ALAN DERSHOWITZ, AUTHOR OF WHY TERRORISM WORKS

" With wit as well as insight, Trembling in the Ivory Tower diagnoses academe's selfinflected wounds and offers suggestions for how the patient might recover. Given the enormous impact of the intellectual class on American society, no topic could be more timely or more important."
-- DR. JERRY MARTIN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI

“ With a healthy dose of humor and awareness of his critics, Lasson (law, Univ. of Baltimore) explores the excesses in higher education and encourages a return to common sense in the Academy, as colleges and universities seem to have taken up the banner of political correctness and weakened genuine scholarship. He perceptively notes the corrosive effects of domineering academic bureaucracies, arguing that many academic institutions offer a disturbing image of ideological warfare being waged by pompous academics. Many within and outside the Academy will find Lasson’s discussion timely and will enjoy his levity. Lasson is able to articulate both the wide spectrum of an argument and the intricacies supporting or refuting it. Those familiar with his earlier works, namely, Getting the Most Out of Washington and Representing Yourself: What You Can Do Without A Lawyer, will here find the same concern here for everyday folk. Scholarly in format and style, this study belongs in education collections of academic and larger public libraries, and in libraries where patrons seek chronicled influences in educational reform and the state of American education. Small public libraries wanting a work to reach the average person can add this with comfort.”
-- LIBRARY JOURNAL

“ With passion, clarity, ‘smoking guns,’ and humor, University of Baltimore law professor Kenneth Lasson joins the few academic liberals who have impeached American higher education for academic high crimes and misdemeanors. Lasson provides evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that many college administrators and faculty are guilty of supporting political correctness, radical feminism, and trivial scholarship.”
-- DR. EVELYN AVERY, BOARD MEMBER, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS
-- DR. SHELDON AVERY, AWARDS CMTEE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS

“ Irreverent, humorous, and on target – Ken Lasson’s Trembling in the Ivory Tower is all those things. The book brilliantly points out the excesses and faux pas committed by even well-intentioned individuals who are concerned with issues of justice and equity in society, in general, and academia, in particular. Of greatest value is Lasson's often selfdeprecating description of the over-abundance and intemperance found in much of the academic literature. A thick skin may be a prerequisite for some readers.”
-- JOHN BROOKS SLAUGHTER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL ACTION COUNCIL FOR MINORITIES IN ENGINEERING; PRESIDENT EMERITUS, OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE; AND FORMER CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK

“ Employing an exemplary sense of humor, the multi-faceted Professor Lasson exceeds his usual high intellectual standards with his latest book, Trembling in the Ivory Tower. With wide-ranging scope, and good solid common sense, he skewers academe and its many foibles. And he does so using a clear and delightful writing style that, heaven knows, I wish other academicians could imitate.”
-- H. MEBANE TURNER, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE

" Kenneth Lasson's skewering new book, full of wit and wisdom, offers a penetrating critique of some serious threats to freedom of expression on our nation’s campuses, where all ideas should be especially secure, but where neutral First Amendment values are too often sacrificed to various political agendas. A must-read for all those who care about higher education and the First Amendment -- liberals and conservatives alike."
-- NADINE STROSSEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, AND PROFESSOR OF LAW, NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

“ Like Martin Anderson's Impostors in the Temple, Ken Lasson’s Trembling in the Ivory Tower shows that our colleges and universities are corrupt, and are becoming ever less congenial to teaching and learning. Trembling Tower, however, is unique in showing that faculty members’ major daily preoccupation -- obtaining tenure and advancement through fraudulent publications -- as well as the folkways that fall under the category of political correctness, constitute the very matrix of this corruption. This book is significant also because Lasson is a card-carrying member of the Liberal tribe that is solely responsible for the state of modern American academic life. And there’s more. By leavening deadly serious topics with learned humor, as he does in Trembling, Lasson has not only provided an enjoyable book to read, but proves that having a law degree is no bar to good sense and good humor.”
-- ANGELO CODEVILLA, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, BOSTON UNIVERSITY

“ If Kenneth Lasson’s description of the American academy is accurate, and it is, I’ll get into trouble if I say anything nice about his book. So be it. Trembling in the Ivory Tower: Excesses in the Pursuit of Truth and Tenure is a wonderful work—relentlessly serious in its condemnation of scholarly gobbledygook, radical feminism, and political correctness, but also reaching 10 on the hilarity index. As I read Trembling, I was reminded of another Baltimorean, H. L. Mencken, who laughed (and made others laugh) as he chronicled the decline of civilization. Although a white male, Lasson represents the most underrepresented group in today’s multicultural universities: those who care about the English language and rational thought.”
-- ERIK M. JENSEN, DAVID L. BRENNAN PROFESSOR OF LAW, CASE WESTERN UNIVERSITY
“ Even without Lasson's measured, witty commentary, his exhaustive and entertaining evidence would have the practitioners of academicism, radical feminism, and PCism laughed out of court. But they're not in court, where facts and truth, analysis and argument, reason and commonsense prevail (at least usually). They're in colleges and universities, where such principles often no longer obtain. Higher education has been politicized, and its politics now are radical. Lasson's modest suggestions – civility, tolerance, and a dose of Western Civ --will help to restore sanity and balance, a sense of humor and moderation, and perhaps even some amiability.”
-- LAURIN A. WOLLAN, JR., PRESIDENT, FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS

“ This book deftly deflates both the pompous and petty in American higher education, and
honors those who seek to maintain (against increasing odds) the established norms of Western civilization and rational discourse. Lasson teaches us the value of true intellectual diversity on campus, as opposed to the politically correct diversity promoted by radical feminists and deconstructionist faculties to the exclusion of individualistic values, historical perspective, and scientific method. A most welcome challenge to the PC-Thought-Police.”
-- GERALD ZURIFF, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, WHEATON COLLEGE

“ Can such academic travesties as multiculturalism, deconstruction, and political correctness actually be funny on occasion? In Trembling in the Ivory Tower, Professor Kenneth Lasson amply proves they can. In his blistering examination of academic fads and foibles, hidden treats include a hilarious disquisition on the law review essay with the greatest number of footnotes ever, and on the Mine Eyes Glazeth Over (MEGO) syndrome. Lasson’s wit illuminates his sometimes acerbic truth-telling, painting a full and fascinating picture of what happens when academe abandons its once proud motto:“ the truth shall set you free,” and replaces it with dreary litanies recited by devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness. Filled with courage and common sense, Lasson’s tribute to rational argument sparkles.”
-- ROBERT LERNER, PH.D., LERNER AND NAGAI QUANTITATIVE CONSULTING, &
INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR

“ Trembling in the Ivory Tower is that all too rare book that successfully speaks to both an academic and a lay audience. Lasson skillfully exposes the way in which free speech has been stifled and standards of rigorous scholarly inquiry debased on American colleges in recent years. This book's timely and provocative arguments deserve a hearing from anyone who cares about preserving an unfettered marketplace of ideas on our campuses– and, for that matter, everywhere else in our democratic society as well.”
-- SAMUEL I. "SANDY" ROSENBERG, MEMBER, MD HOUSE OF DELEGATES, AND ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE AND UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOLS OF LAW

“ In a courageously frank analysis of current trends in many American institutions of higher education, Lasson exposes frightening examples of exaggerated political correctness, deteriorating course standards, and poor levels of writing. He challenges the academic community, while it is still not too late, to counter the damaging effects of radical feminism, the downgrading of European culture, totalitarian attitudes, and the employment of jargon and gibberish. His powerfully argued case deserves careful consideration and widespread discussion.”
-- STEFAN REIF, PROFESSOR OF MEDIEVAL HEBREW STUDIES, DIRECTOR OF GENIZAH RESEARCH, AND FELLOW OF ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND