This book operates from one basic contention-that in order to understand and reform the discipline of English, it is first necessary to shift the focus of examination down and back. This crudely spatializes what could be put in other terms: that we have a great deal to learn about the day-to-day operations and practices of English studies, and that present examinations will be much more effective when grounded in a history that includes both disciplinary developments and their cultural contexts.