The 11 essays in this volume are organized around several themes related to the humanities and higher education. Papers discuss demographics and funding needs; classroom climate; books, libraries, and reading; educational theory; and educational institutions. Essays include: "Change in the Humanities and Higher Education" (Alvin Kernan); "Democratization and Decline? The Consequences of Demographic Change in the Humanities" (Lynn Hunt); "Funding Trends in the Academic Humanities, 1970-1995: Reflections on the Stability of the System" (John H. D'Arms); "Ignorant Armies and Nighttime Clashes: Changes in the Humanities Classroom, 1970-1995" (Francis Oakley); "Evolution and Revolution: Change in the Literary Humanities, 1968-1995" (Margery Sabin); "Humanities and the Library in the Digital Age" (Carla Hesse); "The Practice of Reading" (Denis Donoghue); "Beyond Method" (Gertrude Himmelfarb); "Changing Epochs" (Frank Kermode); "The Pursuit of Metaphor" (Christopher Ricks); "The Demise of Disciplinary Authority" (Louis Menand); and "Scholarship as Social Action" (David Bromwich). Data on bachelor's and doctoral degrees in the humanities from 1966 to 1993 are appended. (Most essays contain references.) (MSE)