Campusland, Scott Johnston
Campusland, Scott Johnston
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Campusland
A Novel

Author: Scott Johnston

Narrator: Casey Turner

Unabridged: 11 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/13/2019


Synopsis

"This high-spirited, richly imagined, and brave novel is a delight to read... Smart and hilarious."
— Kirkus Reviews

Joyous, fast and funny, Scott Johnston’s Campusland is a satiric howl at today’s elite educational institutions—from safe spaces to tribal infighting to the sheer sanctimony. A wickedly delightful audiobook that may remind you of Tom Wolfe and David Lodge.

Her room sucks. Her closet isn’t big enough for two weeks’-worth of outfits, much less her new Rag & Bone for fall. And there’s nothing worth posting. Cruel. To Lulu Harris—It Girl-in-the-Making—her first year at the ultra-competitive Ivy-like Devon University is a dreary impediment. If she’s fabulous and no one sees it, what’s the point?

To Eph Russell, who looks and sounds like an avatar of privilege (shh!–he’s anything but) Devon is heaven. All day to think and read and linger over a Welsh rarebit at The Faculty Club, not to mention teach English 240 where he gets to discuss all his 19th Century favorites, like Mark Twain. If Eph could just get tenure, he could stay forever, but there are landmines everywhere.

In his seventh year at Devon, Red Wheeler is the alpha dog on top of Devon’s progressive hierarchy, the most woke guy on campus. But when his position is challenged, Red is forced to take measures.

Before first term is halfway finished, Lulu bungles her social cache with her clubbable upperclass peers, and is forced to reinvent herself. Shedding her designer clothes, she puts on flannel and a brand-new persona: campus victim. For Lulu to claw her way back to the top, she’ll build a pyre and roast anyone in her way.

Presiding over this ferment is Milton Strauss, Devon’s feckless president, who spends his days managing perpetually aggrieved students, scheming administrators, jealous professors, billionaire donors, and bumptious frat boys. He just can’t say yes fast enough. And what to do with Martika Malik-Adams? Isn’t her giant salary as vice-president of Diversity & Inclusion enough?

All paths converge as privileged, marginalized, and radical students form identity alliances, sacrifice education for outrage, and push varied agendas of political correctness that drags every free thought of higher learning into the lower depths of an entitled underclass.

About Scott Johnston

Previously the author of the best-seller Campusland (currently being developed for television), SCOTT JOHNSTON grew up in Manhattan and graduated from Yale, where he later taught as an adjunct. After graduation, he worked on Wall Street (Salomon Brothers of Liar's Poker fame), including a stint in Hong Kong and running a quantitative hedge fund. More recently, Johnston shifted gears and co-founded and subsequently sold two tech startups. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mackenzie - PhDiva Books on October 22, 2020

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I selected Campusland, but I ended up loving this brilliant work of satire focused on the over-the-top and often sanctimonious “woke” culture of the elite Ivy-league campuses. Come for the laugh-out-loud moments and stay for the accurate social commentary on these e......more

Goodreads review by Claire on May 20, 2019

I actually read this book twice, once a couple of months ago with the intention of reviewing it and the second time for the sheer, unmitigated pleasure of it. If you are looking for a laugh-out-loud summer read that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining then look no further, this is your book......more

Goodreads review by Anne on June 10, 2019

I'm such a sucker for books set in schools--this one at Devon University. I'm a sucker for a good satire and as a retired English teacher, I'm also a sucker for references to classic literature--as in this novel when Huck Finn is challenged as being racist with no "content warning" (even as it's tau......more

Goodreads review by Natalie on June 12, 2019

HEAR YE, HEAR YE, all you who work with or near college students must read this book. Johnston has written a brilliant satire on today’s college politics. I laughed out loud many times, read portions to colleagues because so much of it touches the truths of campus life and over.zealous political cor......more

Goodreads review by Cat on July 20, 2019

Oh, wow! What a breath of fresh air! Not since a Mel Brooks movie have we attempted to laugh at ourselves in order to feel better. Scott Johnston must have made a list of all the recent U.S. news that needed to chill, then wrote this book to address every single one of them. As I read, numerous bits......more