Horror stories abound of colleges closed, faculty laid off, and liberal arts programs terminated. Families express concern about costs, students worry about debt, and society appears skeptical about whether a college education is worth it. In many of these reports, colleges and universities are to blame for their own failures. Academic programs are disconnected from 21st-century economic needs, critics say. This article shows how approaching from different perspectives, three books about higher education provide needed context: (1) Charles Dorn's "For the Common Good: A New History of Higher Education in America" (2017); (2) Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman's "The Road Ahead for America's Colleges and Universities" (2017); and (3) Joseph E. Aoun's "Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (2018).