George Keller’s case study of Elon University’s transformation from a struggling college with a limited endowment into a top regional university is now available in paperback.Ten years after the publication of Transforming a College, Elon University continues to thrive as a school that reinvented itself and its community around the idea of inspiring and guiding students. George Keller’s now-classic account has been used as an inspiration and playbook for m...

While he celebrated higher education as the engine of progress in every aspect of American life, George Keller also challenged academia’s sacred cows and entrenched practices with provocative ideas designed to induce “creative discomfort.” Completed shortly before his death in 2007, Higher Education and the New Society caps the career of one of higher education’s exceptional minds.Refining and expanding ideas Keller developed over his fifty-year career, this book is a clar...

This isn't just a memoir, it's a survival manual for the soul.Gimme Shelter is the raw, unfiltered story of George Keller, who rose from the violence and trauma of Philadelphia's streets to experience a powerful spiritual rebirth. Abandoned, beaten down, and nearly broken, George journeyed through years of addiction before reclaiming his life.What began as an act of survival became a story of redemption and purpose. From juvenile detention centers to biker gangs, from stree...

After criticizing US involvement in WWI, Eugene Debs found himself testifying in court for violation of the Sedition Act of 1918. Debs, an outspoken socialist and advocate, stated that he saw this law “as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions.” In his address to the court, he defends his socialism by discussing his working-class childhood and the plight of the American poor. Despite facing years in prison, Debs’ ended ...

In this sermon, Reverend Hiram Mattison discusses the argument for Christian opposition to theater. He states, “the theater has been one unmitigated moral pest through the whole twenty-five centuries of its existence.” Mattison presents supporting testimonies from the like of Aristotle, Augustine, and John Wesley. Regardless of the reader’s opinion on theater, this sermon provides fascinating insight into the institution’s reputation throughout history.

“Jabberwocky” is one of the most well-known nonsense poems in the English language. Though full of playful made-up words like “brillig,” “mimsy,” and frumious,” the poem still tells a story. A young warrior faces up against the fearsome Jabberwock, armed with a “vorpal blade,” and comes out triumphant: “O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” This poem first appeared in the middle of Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, Carroll’s follow-up to the well-beloved children’...

On June 16, 1918, union leader Eugene Debs delivered this speech at the Ohio State Socialist Party Convention. In it, he famously criticized the USA’s involvement in World War I. Four days later, the federal grand jury condemned his speech by way of the Sedition Act of 1918, and he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Debs serves as an inspiration for all those who persistently advocate for the working class despite opposition.

President Woodrow Wilson delivered this address on January 22, 1917, a few months before he asked Congress to vote to enter World War I. This speech reveals that he planned for the US to participate in the peace-making agreements long before he planned to take part in the fighting itself. The peace strategy he lays forth in this address mirrors the sentiments of his “14 points” message, delivered a year later at the end of the war. He states that these ideas are not just American ideals, “...

Woodrow Wilson became the 28th president of the United States when he beat out President Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election. His election completed a shift to Democratic power across the executive and legislative branches. In his inaugural address, he explains his hopes for using this Democratic majority to enact the positive change for which Americans so clearly hungered. He ends with a call to unity, though, saying, “Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of h...

On November 20, 1820, a sperm whale struck and sunk the whaling ship Essex, stranding the 21 crew members who escaped on three whale-boats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 2000 miles from land. Up against rough storms, vicious sharks, and desperation leading to cannibalism, only eight men survived. One was First Mate Owen Chase, who published this account of the disaster. His story served as real-life inspiration for Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

President Woodrow Wilson entered World War I reluctantly, and he aimed to be strategic and fair when arranging peace terms to leave it.He delivered his 14-point treaty to Congress in January 1918. In it, he emphasized the importance of establishing free trade, restoring sovereign territories, and reducing arms. This speech outlined the terms on which he sought to establish enduring peace in Europe, which he recognized as vital to maintaining peace in the Americas as well as the rest...

When an American sea captain sees a Spanish slave ship in distress, he reaches out with an offer to help. Once on board, however, the odd behavior of the captain, crew, and slaves leave him with an uneasy feeling that something is not as it seems. Melville based the plot of this novella on real events that occurred off the coast of Chile in 1799. Though it is not Melville’s best-known work, it is favored among scholars as one of his most complex.