<DIV>Schrecker, the leading historian of the McCarthy-era witch hunts, examines both the key fronts in the present battles over higher ed, and their historical parallels in previous eras &#8211; offering a deeply-researched chronicle of the challenges to academic freedom, set against the rapidly changing structure of the academy itself. <I>The Lost Soul of Higher Education</I> tells the interwoven stories of successive, well-funded ideological assaults on academic freedom by outside pressure groups aimed at undermining the legitimacy of scholarly study, viewed alongside decades of eroding higher education budgets -- a trend that has sharply accelerated during the recent economic downturn. </DIV>