{"product_id":"free-spirit-a-biography-of-mason-welch-gross-9781978808331","title":"Free Spirit: A Biography of Mason Welch Gross","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, stands as a memorial to one of Rutgers University’s most influential leaders. Gross started teaching at Rutgers as an assistant professor of philosophy in 1946, but quickly rose through the ranks to become the university’s provost in 1949 and finally its president from 1959 to 1971. He led the university through an era when it experienced both some of its greatest growth and most intense controversies. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFree Spirit \u003c\/i\u003eexplores how Gross helped reshape Rutgers from a sleepy college into a world-renowned public research university. It also reveals how he steered the university through the tumult of the Red Scare, civil rights era, and the Vietnam War by taking principled stands in favor of both racial equality and academic freedom. This biography tells the story of how, from an early age, Gross came to believe in the importance of doing what was right, even when the backlash took a toll on his own health.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Written by his youngest son Thomas, this book offers a uniquely well-rounded portrait of Gross as both a public figure and a private person. Covering everything from his service in World War II to his stints as a game-show personality, \u003ci\u003eFree Spirit \u003c\/i\u003eintroduces the reader to a remarkable academic leader.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This truly engaging and eminently readable biography recounts with insight, candor, and empathy the compelling life and the exemplary, highly principled career of the author’s father. It is particularly valuable for its treatment of how Mason Gross successfully met the recurring challenges he confronted during his eventful presidency of Rutgers.\" -- B. Robert Kreiser * author of Miracles, Convulsions, and Ecclesiastical Politics in Early Eighteenth-Century Paris *\u003cbr\u003e\"Gross’s life story is an inspiring testament to the power of ideas and principles, one that offers an important lesson and a warning in our era.\" -- Chris Rasmussen * Associate Professor of History, Farleigh Dickinson University *\u003cbr\u003e\"Mason W. Gross promoted a sense of calm and reason during a decade of political action and social awareness.\"\u003cbr\u003e   -- Thomas J. Frusciano * Rutgers University Archivist, The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries *\u003cbr\u003eAlumni Profiles: The Living Legacy of Mason Gross by Leslie Aristo Pfaff * Rutgers Today\/Rutgers Alumni Association *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is a book that historians of higher education will find invaluable, especially for the insights it offers to Mason’s character and temperament.\"\u003c\/p\u003e -- G. Kurt Piehler * NJS Journal *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthor’s Note\u003cbr\u003e 1 Prologue: The Inauguration, 1959\u003cbr\u003e 2 Postmark: Willcox, Arizona, 1928\u003cbr\u003e 3 Postmark: Cambridge, England,1930\u003cbr\u003e 4 The Blind Date, 1939\u003cbr\u003e 5 Postmark: Somewhere in Italy, 1944\u003cbr\u003e 6 The Homecoming, 1945\u003cbr\u003e 7 Goodbye to New York, 1946\u003cbr\u003e 8 In the Second Chair, 1949\u003cbr\u003e 9 Rutgers v. the Red Scare, 1954\u003cbr\u003e 10 Philosophy of Education v. the “Big Lie”\u003cbr\u003e 11 The Inauguration, 1959\u003cbr\u003e 12 Into the Fishbowl, 1959\u003cbr\u003e 13 The Cultural Wasteland, 1959\u003cbr\u003e 14 Nothing at Rutgers Was Ever Easy\u003cbr\u003e 15 Crisis, 1961\u003cbr\u003e 16 Faith and Reason\u003cbr\u003e 17 Score Once More, 1965\u003cbr\u003e 18 The Inflection Point, 1965\u003cbr\u003e 19 The Silent Steinway, 1965\u003cbr\u003e 20 The Jewel in the Crown\u003cbr\u003e 21 The Year Everything Went Wrong, 1968\u003cbr\u003e 22 Law and Order, 1968\u003cbr\u003e 23 Faith and Reason v. Law and Order\u003cbr\u003e 24 June 1970\u003cbr\u003e 25 Complicated, 1971\u003cbr\u003e 26 Guggenheim, 1972\u003cbr\u003e 27 The Door Opens, Then Closes Tight, 1975–1977\u003cbr\u003e 28 The Last Post, 1977\u003cbr\u003e 29 The Hope That Lies within You, 2020\u003cbr\u003e Appendix: Personal Histories, Correspondence, Reminiscences, and Interviews\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index ","brand":"Rutgers University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49415235862871,"sku":"9781978808331","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/free-spirit-a-biography-of-mason-welch-gross-9781978808331","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}