This is a study of how the internal culture of British and American universities has been shaped over the course of two centuries in relation to external factors such as government, the economy, society and culture. John Henry Newman's classic work, The Idea of a University provides entry and exit points for this study of the modern university. This series of explorations highlights on-going paradoxes and dilemmas in the history of universities as they moved from the edge of society to the center of modern democratic states and market economies.