This entertaining new account of Cambridge in the later nineteenth century
contains the complete text of F.M. Cornford's famous satire of 1908 on
University politics, Microcosmographia Academica, together with a full account
of the controversies that gave rise to it. Cambridge during that period was
being subjected to pressure for reform from within and outside the University,
forcing it to radical social and academic change, above all by extending and
changing the curriculum and by admitting women. These matters provoked fierce
debates and provided a rich context for Cornford's pamphlet.