Dayton Haskin, professor emeritus of English at Boston College, is the author of John Donne in the Nineteenth Century and Milton's Burden of Interpretation, which won the James Holly Hanford Award.

"Among a slew of histories of academic institutions, The Birth of the English Major stands out by moving the spotlight from professorial research to student classroom experiences. Dayton Haskin weaves a gripping story: a must-read for anyone interested in the humanities." - James Turner, author of Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities"This extraordinary book, the result of patient research into teaching archives in college libraries, is both timely and sure to have a long life, for Haskin's story of the origin of English literature as a field of study in American colleges is also a history of education in America. This fascinating history is packed with detail and human interest." - Achsah Guibbory, author of Returning to John Donne"Dayton Haskin's imaginative probing of what he has found in students' notebooks and essays, and in the exam questions they were expected to answer, enlivens his story about how literature in English became something undergraduates could study. His book offers a hands-on history of pedagogy that highlights the decisive work done by innovative teachers who made literary study at once productive and pleasurable." - Rosemarie Bodenheimer, author of Knowing Dickens

Dayton Haskin, professor emeritus of English at Boston College, is the author of John Donne in the Nineteenth Century and Milton's Burden of Interpretation, which won the James Holly Hanford Award.

"Among a slew of histories of academic institutions, The Birth of the English Major stands out by moving the spotlight from professorial research to student classroom experiences. Dayton Haskin weaves a gripping story: a must-read for anyone interested in the humanities." - James Turner, author of Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities"This extraordinary book, the result of patient research into teaching archives in college libraries, is both timely and sure to have a long life, for Haskin's story of the origin of English literature as a field of study in American colleges is also a history of education in America. This fascinating history is packed with detail and human interest." - Achsah Guibbory, author of Returning to John Donne"Dayton Haskin's imaginative probing of what he has found in students' notebooks and essays, and in the exam questions they were expected to answer, enlivens his story about how literature in English became something undergraduates could study. His book offers a hands-on history of pedagogy that highlights the decisive work done by innovative teachers who made literary study at once productive and pleasurable." - Rosemarie Bodenheimer, author of Knowing Dickens