Alumnus Richard Taylor publishes The Working Men’s College & Academic Freedom in Higher Education

Richard Taylor (1964, PPE) has published two new books.  

The Working Men’s College and the Tradition of Adult Education looks at the UK’s oldest continuously running adult education institution and brings the history of the WMC up to date, following the 1954 centenary history by JFC Harrison. Bringing together contributions from a range of professional educators, they explore topics such as the philosophy of the College, the issue of women’s entry, college governance and the notion of community as it applies to changes in the composition of the student body. This book will be of interest to historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, all those in UK adult education, along with local Camden/London community and political groups and the WMC’s extensive family of former students and tutors. 

Taylor’s second book, Academic Freedom in Higher Education: Core Value or Elite Privilege?, delves into the differences and challenges of freedom of speech and academic freedom, with both hard-won freedoms considered by many to be under serious threat. The experts who have contributed to this book examine both the importance of academic freedom and the severe threats universities face in this context in the twenty-first century. This book will interest researchers, policy makers, staff and students across higher education and members of the public concerned about these important and contested matters. 

You can purchase your copy of Richard Taylor’s book through Blackwell’s bookshop and other booksellers.