Trachtenberg’s writing style is open, friendly, and inviting. It flows. This makes reading “Big Man on Campus” an easy and enjoyable experience. His choice of chapter titles —Young Enough to Still Do Some Damage, Seize The Day, Descartes Goes Into A Bar and Orders a Martini and The Bride Is Too Beautiful — intrigues the reader, causing one to wonder what is behind them.
I was moved by reading this book. It changed my previous interpretation and appreciation of what the life of a university president consisted of. It is more than raising money, pleasing the board of visitors, greeting new students, keeping the confidence of the faculty and successfully maintaining the institution’s accreditation. It is leading, compromising, fighting for, nurturing, often gently navigating, and sometimes pushing an institution and its people through a complex maze of problems, situations, policies, and experiences. The complicated part is that the president has to do this while maintaining his or her sanity.
The book meets the author’s goal. He indicates in the beginning of his work his desire to provide a total picture of running a university not to produce a textbook. “Big Man on Campus” is not a textbook. It is a running dialogue between Trachtenberg and the reader, as you walk with him, through his words, descriptions, and emotions performing a difficult, but rewarding job as a university president.
