Enemies of Promise: Publishing, Perishing, and the Eclipse of Scholarship [Paperback]

Why should books drive the academic hierarchy? This controversial question posed by Lindsay Waters ignited fierce debate in the academy and its presses, as he warned that the publish or perish dictum was breaking down the academic system in the United States. Waters hones his argument in this pamphlet with a new set of questions that challenge the previously unassailable link between publishing and tenure.

As one of the most important and innovative editors in the humanities and social sciences, Waters has long witnessed the self-destruction occurring in the academic world because of the pressure to publish. Drawing upon his years of experience, he reveals how this principle is destroying the quality of educational institutions and the ideals of higher learning. It is time for scholars to rise up, Waters argues, and reclaim the governance of their institutions.

Lindsay Watersis Executive Editor for the Humanities at Harvard University Press, where he has been since 1984. From 1978 to 1984, he was an editor at the University of Minnesota Press, where he developed the theory and History of Literature series. His booksAgainst Authoritarian Aestheticsappeared in putonghua from Peking University Press in 2000.

Eye-opening, deeply troubling, eloquent, and compelling.

Enemies of Promiseis a humdinger about the crisis in academic publishing, where the 'publish or perish' imperative has created towers of books that no one reads, even the professoriate. Author Lindsay Waters . . . paints an alarming picture of a bloated assembly line fueled by careerism and dedicated to mediocrity.

With great vigor,Enemies of Promisetakes on the commericalization of the university generally and publishing specifically.

Waters has done the world of ideas a service in writing about its infrastructure frankly, thoughtfully, and for the most part, readably . . . I recommend it to every academic, incl³®