Wells The Promise of the American University

Larger than life, surrounded by an aura of guarded omniscience, and armored with a genial affable style, Herman B Wells reinvented Indiana University as a significant participant among the nation's public research universities. The story of this twentyfive-year transformation has been ably told in the third and final volume of Thomas D. Clark's fine institutional history, Indiana University: Midwestem Pioneer, Years of Fulfillment (1977), but the full biography of its prime mover has, until now, remained something of a mystery. Wells, president from 1937 to 1962 and university chancellor until his death in 2000, proved remarkably adept at deflecting close observation of his personal life by continuously living in public spaces, working for multiple and distinct groups in different places, and often managing multiple assignments and responsibilities at the same time. Out of this incredibly active existence. Wells developed a seemingly limitless and dynamic network of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and collaborators who insulated him from most close observation, with the possible exception of perhaps a few confidants with an admirable cornmitment to discretion. These characteristics make the challenge of a biographer especially difficult. Fortunately, James H. Capshew's Herman B Wells brings exhaustive research, careful analysis, sympathetic but clear-eyed assessment of his subject, and a deep understanding of Indiana University to this challenge. Although Wells's biography has its beginning in small-town Indiana, by 1930 the narrative quickly becomes the story of the university, the man, and their unbreakable and symbiotic relationship. It tells of how Wells, before even completing his graduate work, had leveraged his rapidly expanding network of colleagues and