Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

Culture critic Deresiewicz offers a hard-hitting critique of elite education. According to the author, colleges with indifferent teaching and incoherent curricula offer no guidance on intellectual development or character formation; the system reinforces class hierarchy. Reader Foster narrates Deresiewicz’s jeremiad with a deep and engaging voice that commands listeners’ attention and complements the weight of the overall argument. Yet his cadence is natural and manages to capture Deresiewicz’s tone while smoothing over the long passages where the author might otherwise be construed as condescending.[em] A Free Press hardcover.[/em] (Aug.)