American business schools from their inception in the 1880's, have grown dramatically both in quality and in numbers. Regarded as late as the 1950's as essentially vocational schools whose role in academia was still to be resolved, they are now among the most respected professional schools in the university community. In recent decades, this increase in prestige has been matched by the growth of both Bachelor's and MBA programs.

The forces and events shaping this dramatic rise in importance have been recounted by Dean Emeritus of New York University's Stern School of Business, Abraham L. Gitlow. He brings his 45 years of experience as a faculty member at the Stern School to bear as he analyzes the educational and philosophical issues and tensions that marked the history of the school, and of American higher education in general, in the twentieth century.