University Politics

This entertaining account of Cambridge around the turn of the twentieth century contains the centenary edition of the complete text of F. M. Cornford's famous satire of 1908 on university politics, Microcosmographia Academica, together with a full account of the controversies which gave rise to it. Cambridge during this period was being subjected to pressure for reform from within and outside the University, forcing it to radical social and academic change, above all by extending and altering the curriculum and by admitting women. All these matters, many of which remain in debate at the beginning of the twenty-first century in Cambridge and in the wider academic community, provoked fierce debates and provided a rich context for Cornford's pamphlet. The book is illustrated with a selection of contemporary photographs and portraits.