The debate over "P.C." at America's universities is the most important discussion in American education today and has grown into a major national controversy raging on the covers of our top magazines and news shows. This provocative anthology gives voice to the top thinkers of our time, liberal and conservative, as they tackle the question. From the multicultural perspective of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who argues passionately for more diversity, to the erudition of Irving Howe, who stresses the profound value of the literary canon, this exciting collection is required reading for thinking Americans . . . and for everyone concerned with the future of higher education and the shaping of young minds.

Contents include:

“The Big Chill? Interview with Dinesh D’Souza” by Robert MacNeil

“On Differences: Modern Language Association Presidential Address 1990” by Catharine R. Stimpson

“The Periphery v. the Center: The MLA in Chicago” by Roger Kimball

“The Storm over the University” by John Searle

“Public Imaged Limited: Political Correctness and the Media’s Big Lie” by Michael Berubé

“The Value of the Canon” by Irving Howe

“The Politics of Knowledge” by Edward W. Said

“Whose Canon Is It, Anyway?” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

“Why Do We Read?” by Katha Pollitt

“’Speech Codes’ on the Campus and Problems of Free Speech” by Nat Hentoff

“Freedom of Hate Speech” by Richard Perry and Patricia Williams

“There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech and It’s a Good Thing, Too” by Stanley Fish

“The Statement of the Black Faculty Caucus” by Ted Gordon and Wahneema Lubiano

“Radical English” by George F. Will

“Critics of Attempts to Democratize the Curriculum Are Waging a Campaign to Misrepresent the Work of Responsible Professors” by Paula Rothenberg

“Multiculturalism: E Pluribus Plures” by Diane Ravitch

“Multiculturalism: An Exchange” by Molefi Kete Asante

“The Prospect Before Us” by Hilton Kramer

“P.C. Rider” by Enrique Fernández

“Diverse New World” by Cornel West

“The Challenge for the Left” by Barbara Ehrenreich