What do you think?
Rate this book
Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times
A former college president and bestselling author offers leadership lessons for today’s troubled campuses
Higher education is under assault from all sides. Scandals, protests, and dramatic resignations dominate the news cycle, and the pressure has grown so severe that the average tenure of university presidents has fallen to less than six years. Even so, Title TK insists, American universities provide the solutions to the ignorance and division that plague our society—but only if wise, courageous leaders step up.
Blending insights from social science with many years of experience as a college president at Spelman and Mount Holyoke Colleges, Beverly Daniel Tatum celebrates the power of leadership to make higher education a force for good. Alongside an unflinching look at the financial challenges, political attacks, and social problems that besiege today’s college campuses, she offers real-life leadership examples of institutions that have overcome the steepest odds and produced real transformation in ideas, student bodies, and society at large.
At once conversational and contemplative, Title TK reckons with the complexities of higher education in our time, while exhorting future leaders to take up the mantle and chart a path forward for our campuses and country.
Higher education is under assault from all sides. Scandals, protests, and dramatic resignations dominate the news cycle, and the pressure has grown so severe that the average tenure of university presidents has fallen to less than six years. Even so, Title TK insists, American universities provide the solutions to the ignorance and division that plague our society—but only if wise, courageous leaders step up.
Blending insights from social science with many years of experience as a college president at Spelman and Mount Holyoke Colleges, Beverly Daniel Tatum celebrates the power of leadership to make higher education a force for good. Alongside an unflinching look at the financial challenges, political attacks, and social problems that besiege today’s college campuses, she offers real-life leadership examples of institutions that have overcome the steepest odds and produced real transformation in ideas, student bodies, and society at large.
At once conversational and contemplative, Title TK reckons with the complexities of higher education in our time, while exhorting future leaders to take up the mantle and chart a path forward for our campuses and country.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published September 2, 2025
17 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Beverly Daniel Tatum
19 books223 followersDr. Beverly Christine Daniel Tatum (M.A., Religious Studies, Hartford Seminary, 2000; Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Michigan, 1984; M.A., Clinical Psych., U.M., 1976; B.A., Psychology, Wesleyan University, 1971) is President Emerita of Spelman College, having served 13 years as President until her 2012 retirement. She is a psychologist and writes on race relations.
Previously, Dr. Tatum serves as Psychology Deopartment Chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and professor of Psychology at Westfield State College (1983–89). She started her academic career teaching Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, 1980–83.
The American Psychological Association presented its highest honor to Dr. Tatum, the 2014 Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology.
Previously, Dr. Tatum serves as Psychology Deopartment Chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and professor of Psychology at Westfield State College (1983–89). She started her academic career teaching Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, 1980–83.
The American Psychological Association presented its highest honor to Dr. Tatum, the 2014 Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 27, 2025
1837: the year the oldest women's college in the US was founded.
1881: the year the oldest historically black college ("HBC") for women was founded.
And, at some point, who was at the helm of these venerable institutions? This author who holds the distinction of occupying multiple roles as a psychologist, college administrator and faculty professor. Her experiences coupled with her analysis makes this read now more than ever important.
In this fraught socio-political climate, whether you have children on the cusp of attending college, or are yourself are an administrator /faculty member trying to make sense of what the future holds for colleges and universities financially and their longevity, read this book.
Perhaps you are an avid reader who is neither. Maybe you seek to comprehend how the Israel-Hamas tensions that arose on college campuses in 2023 spilled into the US Congress' political spaces. Or, perhaps understand how established precedents via the US Supreme Court have upended and the results that have followed.
All of this is woven into this remarkable, eye opening book.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, Basic Books, in exchange for an honest review.
1881: the year the oldest historically black college ("HBC") for women was founded.
And, at some point, who was at the helm of these venerable institutions? This author who holds the distinction of occupying multiple roles as a psychologist, college administrator and faculty professor. Her experiences coupled with her analysis makes this read now more than ever important.
In this fraught socio-political climate, whether you have children on the cusp of attending college, or are yourself are an administrator /faculty member trying to make sense of what the future holds for colleges and universities financially and their longevity, read this book.
Perhaps you are an avid reader who is neither. Maybe you seek to comprehend how the Israel-Hamas tensions that arose on college campuses in 2023 spilled into the US Congress' political spaces. Or, perhaps understand how established precedents via the US Supreme Court have upended and the results that have followed.
All of this is woven into this remarkable, eye opening book.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, Basic Books, in exchange for an honest review.
February 15, 2026
I had wildly high expectations going into this book given the excellence of its author and the work truly met them. Even the chapters in which I was the least interested (policy, budget-snore) were made more lively by Tatem’s personal experience and insights. She has such fresh and hopeful takes on higher education without being sentimental or unrealistic. I highly recommend this well-researched and beautifully written testament to what we could be with a little more courage and creativity.
October 26, 2025
Truly amazing to learn from Dr Tatum as always- I wish her language was more nuanced and developed around Gaza…
January 4, 2026
Beverly Daniel Tatum has long been a wise guidepost for higher education, and in this book she applies her wisdom to the state of higher education. In doing so, she clearly lays out the challenges facing higher education leaders while also inviting joy as we meet the challenges.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews