The Groves of Academe cover art

The Groves of Academe

Pre-order: Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Groves of Academe

By: Mary McCarthy
Narrated by: Diana Gardiner
Pre-order: Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Pre-order Now for £15.27

Pre-order Now for £15.27

About this listen

A college instructor embarks on a fanatical quest to save his job—and enact righteous revenge—in this brilliantly acerbic satire of university politics during the early Cold War years

Henry Mulcahy's future is in question. An instructor of literature at Jocelyn College, an institute of higher learning renowned for its progressive approach to education, he has just received word that he will not be teaching next semester. He strongly suspects that his dismissal has been engineered by his nemesis, the college president, who Henry believes resents his superior skills as an educator. Or perhaps he is being targeted by the government in this Cold War era, now that Senator Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt is in full swing, especially since Henry's dedication to independent thinking is, he believes, renowned. Whatever the case, Henry Mulcahy wants justice—and vengeance—and he will not go quietly without a fight. But the battle might expose too much of Henry's true nature . . .

Witty and biting, Mary McCarthy's The Groves of Academe is a deliciously pointed satire of the world of higher education and its petty despots, tiny wars, and internal politics.

©1952 Mary McCarthy (P)1952 Mary McCarthy
Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire Witty
No reviews yet