The American university is a genuine institutional design innovation, the first to harness the power of markets, government and scholarly love for distinction without being controlled by any of them. The major tenets of the American research university - teaching and research, doctoral education, the allure of a 'national university' - helped it supersede international competitors, particularly Germany, as the leading powerhouse of science and scholarship. By closely tracking the similarities and differences of American higher education and its German model, this volume identifies the practices and choices that produced the gold standard for today's world class higher education.