Beginning with a scathing criticism of past presidential leadership of the United States, this treatise on the role of higher education in political history explores the relationship between political resources and wealth in a society that is drastically divided along class lines. The author, a former college president, contends that the only way democracy can survive is by training political and cultural leaders to have both knowledge of and concern for all Americans. This vision entails organising elite colleges based on intercultural and multicultural models.