MONMOUTH, Ill. — It’s been nearly 50 years since Monmouth
College President Emeritus Bruce Haywood has published a book. In a few
days, he will add another.
Published by XOXOX Press in Gambier, Ohio, “The Essential
College” is due out Feb. 9 at college bookstores, including Monmouth’s.
It took eight months for Haywood to write the book, which
encompassed his half-century of experience in the educational field.
“The book is my effort to describe why the liberal
education has declined in the last 50 years and what might be done to
resurrect it,” he explained.
In the book’s preface, he elaborated, “I shall write of my
hope that trustees, presidents and faculty members of some colleges can be
convinced, while there is still time, that liberal education is so vital
to the future of the Republic that they will seek to preserve in their
institutions the essential college that has inspired so many generations
of Americans to seek a purposeful life, rewarding to themselves and to
their society.”
Haywood’s inspiration to write the book stemmed from a
conversation about higher education that he had with an old friend. At
first he did not heed his friend’s advice to write a book. Eventually,
though, he found himself writing every afternoon.
Haywood describes writing as more than a hobby to him,
more like a “passion.” His previous book, published in 1959, focused on
the 18th-century German poet Friedrich von Hardenberg. Since authoring
“The Essential College," Haywood has written another book about the
occupation of Germany after World War II. He hopes to have the book
published later this year.
Raised in England, Haywood was president of Monmouth
College from 1980-94, after serving on the faculty of Kenyon College for
27 years, specializing in German language. For four years, he also served
as the college’s dean and he was provost there from 1967-80.
XOXOX Press is an independent publisher of contemporary
fiction, non-fiction, oral history and poetry. “The Essential College"
will be available at the press’s Web store (http://xoxoxpress.com),
as well as at amazon.com,
BN.com and other Web
booksellers.
Released
by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330
