{"product_id":"the-republic-of-knowledge-william-sauro-9798248419975","title":"The Republic of Knowledge","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Novel of the Fight for America's Land-Grant Universities\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was a blacksmith's son from rural Vermont.\u003cbr\u003eHe changed the course of American education.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1810, Justin Morrill was born into a world where opportunity belonged to the few. College was for ministers and the wealthy. Farmers, mechanics, and laborers were expected to work-not to study.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Morrill believed the republic could be more than that.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the heat of his father's forge to the halls of Congress, \u003cem\u003eThe Republic of Knowledge\u003c\/em\u003e tells the gripping story of how one self-educated shopkeeper reshaped the nation's future. Facing constitutional attacks, political sabotage, and a presidential veto, Morrill spent years fighting to pass a radical idea: that public land should fund public colleges-institutions dedicated not to Latin and theology, but to agriculture, engineering, and the practical sciences that would build a modern nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen the Morrill Act finally passed in 1862-amid the chaos of the Civil War-it launched a quiet revolution. The \"land-grant\" colleges it created would feed a growing country, power industrial expansion, open doors to working-class students, and, over time, extend opportunity to Black Americans and Native communities long excluded from higher education.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut the story does not end with victory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpanning more than a century-from Kansas farm experiments to tribal colleges in Montana to modern budget crises-\u003cem\u003eThe Republic of Knowledge\u003c\/em\u003e traces the enduring question at the heart of American democracy: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWho is education for?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSweeping, deeply researched, and written with the urgency of a nation still debating its future, this is the story of the unfinished American promise-and the men and women who continue the fight to keep knowledge in the hands of the many, not the few.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e William Sauro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798248419975\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e William Sauro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/16\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 242\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.72lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.55d","brand":"William Sauro","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48997496029439,"sku":"9798248419975","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-republic-of-knowledge-william-sauro-9798248419975","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}