The changing role and expectations of higher education have reached a crisis point. The heart of the problem is an isolation of the professoriate. An emphasis on obscure research and lack of accountability is undermining the academy. Creating a dissertation is usually an exhausting and frustrating task. New professors are not prepared for what is about to happen to them. Students are being shortchanged by professors who fail to facilitate learning. The effort to find a long-term academic appointment can be just as bad. This book tells the story of a period of suffering for new professors quite comparable to the description of purgatory in Dante's Divine Comedy. This book documents the story.