Investment in Learning: The Individual and Social Value of American Higher Education

By Howard Bowen ’29, ’32

From the publisher: The value of higher education has been under attack as seldom before in American history. We are told of the overeducated American, of the case against college, and of the failure of education to contribute significantly to the reduction of inequality. In this environment, republication of an exceptionally comprehensive and judicious analysis of all that has been learned—and not learned—about the consequences of American higher education comes at a most appropriate time. Investment in Learning more fully covers the various aspects of this subject than any yet to appear. Howard Bowen is optimistic about higher education, but his viewpoint is based on profound knowledge of both the economic and social aspects of education. Unlike some economists who insist on a strict cost-benefit analysis of expenditures on higher education in relation to outcomes, Bowen argues that the non-monetary benefits are far greater, to the point that individual and social decisions should be made primarily on those broader indicators.

Palouse Country: A Land and Its People

By Richard Scheuerman;
photography by John Clement

Step into the beauty and heritage of the Palouse. Discover the oral histories of the people who populated this area. See panoramic beauty unlike anywhere else in the world. More than 50 John Clement photos will take you there. Author Dick Sheuerman tells a carefully crafted account with words that only one who loves the land can tell it.

Peoples of Washington: Perspectives on Cultural Diversity

By Sid White and S.E. Solberg

A celebration of the cultural and ethnic diversity of Washington and an overview of the state’s many ethnic communities. (WSU Press)

By Chris Volkmann ’70 and Toren Volkmann

Our Drink: Detoxing the Perfect Family portrays the choking of an adolescent by binge drinking and alcohol addiction. Toren and his Perfect Family drag this drunken party straight into American homes in commonplace nonchalance, mislabeled under the term “success.” Toren’s has been a life no mother wants revealed, yet others would find exhilarating and shockingly sensational. But there’s a clincher: it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for the cool guy from the cool family, and it might not work for so many others who will read the book. Invincible Toren had a college diploma, a competitive spot in South America with the Peace Corps, spoke three languages, and could charm his way around the world. He didn’t think that drug and alcohol information applied to him. And the family missed it. If this family is the average family, and the addicted son represents a flourishing college graduate, then there must be millions more like them….and tens of thousands more who are or will be facing alcoholism. The voice of the story switches between mother and son to provide a dynamic combination of inner monologue, narration, and alcohol information. This patchwork disarms the reader by its honesty. Our Drink offers a genuine picture of what hard drinking does to a young man, a family, a society.

Read sample chapters.
Chapter 2
Chapter 4