Summary: A noted professor of literature and cultural studies explains, with extended examples, how he and his students approach subjects that are politically loaded (involving issues of race, gender, and class) or potentially threatening to the life of the mind (postmodernism, anti-foundationalism). Part of the interest of the book is that right-wing dingbats who don't understand the concept of academic freedom have accused Bérubé of forcing a kind of liberal dogma on his students and impeding the education of conservative students. Without replying directly to this charge, Bérubé makes it clear that it is an insubstantial fantasy. In his case, what is liberal about liberal education is that it helps students free their minds from prejudices and beliefs supported only by authority.