One Version of the Facts: My Life in the Ivory Tower

Alexander D. Gregor is director of the Centre for Higher Education
Research and Development at the University of Manitoba and co-editor of
Postsecondary Education in Canada: The Cultural Agenda.

In this delightfully witty and literate autobiography, we are offered,
through the odyssey of one of the country’s major academic figures, a
marvelous window into the development of the North American university
over seven decades of fundamental challenge and change. In the course of
his career as an academic physicist, Harry Duckworth observed the
evolution of that discipline (nationally and internationally) and, by
extension, the evolution of the postwar research university. His
experience in an impressive array of institutions—from Depression-era
student life at Wesley College (now the University of Winnipeg); on to
graduate work and academic employment at Chicago, Wesleyan, McMaster,
Manitoba; and, in full circle, back to Winnipeg—provides an engaging
glimpse into the lives and contributions of leading figures in
contemporary science.

As a senior academic administrator (ultimately, as president of the
University of Winnipeg), Dr. Duckworth has been in a position to provide
perceptive insights into the evolution of universities as institutions
over that period. Similar insights are provided into the development of
the major national and international coordinating bodies that emerged
during this period of growth and change. The author’s leadership roles
in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the
Association of Commonwealth Universities, as well as his involvement in
such bodies as the National Research Council and the Royal Society,
allow him to offer colorful human insights that will not be found in the
standard histories. This broader experience in its turn allows Dr.
Duckworth to place the development of science and of postsecondary
education into their broader social context. The influence of
depression, war, and McCarthyism are all woven into a comprehensive
explanation of why things did in fact move the way they did.

Dr. Duckworth scrupulously denies any scholarly claims for One Version
of the Facts. It is true that the book is not a formal history. But
scholars or general readers who want to improve their understanding of
the evolution of the contemporary university and contemporary science
will benefit significantly from this unique “version.”