German Department alumni Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon published Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted Age. The humanities, considered by many as irrelevant for modern careers and hopelessly devoid of funding, seem to be in a perpetual state of crisis, at the mercy of modernizing and technological forces that are driving universities towards academic pursuits that pull in grant money and direct students to lucrative careers. But as Reitter and Wellmon show, this crisis isn’t new—in fact, it’s as old as the humanities themselves.
