李教授這本新著論述中國的傳統教育制度，對於私人講學、考試選才、中央到地方各級學校的建立，書院的興盛，以及大眾教育，都巨細靡遺。在教育思想方面，李教授一方面論及儒家經學在教育上的深遠影響，是權威人格與保守性的形成；另一方面則強調道學思想擺脫威權和科舉，培養自我的重視。同時也論及佛教與儒家教育的互動。在教育的實際運作方面，論述識字、家庭教育、技術教育、平民教育、課程的演變，以至學生的生活和學生運動等等。 ──（陶晉生，中央研究院士）

This summa on higher education brings the research university into the new century. The multiversity that Clark Kerr so presciently discovered now finds itself in an age of apprehension with few certainties. Leaders of institutions of higher learning can be either hedgehogs or foxes in the new age. Kerr gives five general points of advice on what kinds of attitudes universities should adopt. He then gives a blueprint for action for foxes, suggesting that a few hedgehogs need to be around to protect university autonomy and the public weal.

Since the 1970s, the history of universities has become an important scholarly field, but there have been few attempts to bring this work to a wider audience. In European Universities from the Enlightenment to 1914, Robert Anderson provides an authoritative account of the development of European universities in the 'long' nineteenth century. The reforming rulers of the Enlightenment, the 'Humboldtian' model of the university developed in Germany, and Napoleon's institution of a centralized state system all contributed strands to a complex pattern which was reflected, in the age of nationalism, in distinctive national systems. While 'European' in their traditions, universities were also central to the formation of national elites and national consciousness. There are separate chapters on university systems in Germany, France, Britain (seen here as less of a special case than is often supposed), Italy and Spain, Russia, and the Habsburg Empire. These chapters are tied to more general themes which include the lasting significance of religious issues despite the progress of secularization, the involvement of professors and students in politics before and after 1848, the growth of the research ideal, and the development of the concept of academic freedom. There is a thorough discussion of the sociology of university attendance, and chapters of pioneering synthesis on women and universities and on student communities. Anderson's general argument is that the 'modern' university was consolidated in the 1870s and 1880s; by 1914 its ideals were under strain from academic specialization, the financial demands of scientific research, and the rise of virulent strains of nationalism and antisemitism - yet the liberal university retained its rationale and its vigour. This is no narrow study of educational history, but will appeal to all those with an interest in the political, social, and cultural history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It also has an extensive multilingual bibliography.