Before 1920, no one knew what an American university would look like, which makes the decades around 1900 a wonderfully interesting period in the history of higher education. Why did Dartmouth choose to remain a college in the 1890s, when other old colleges, including Harvard and Yale, were becoming universities? Did this choice make any difference at the time? Tobias tells a fascinating story of change at Dartmouth in the 1880s; Thelin provides the broader context. Both books offer useful insights as we think about what comprises the "Dartmouth Experience" today.