The University of Arizona: A History in 100 Stories is a celebration of the people, ideas, inventions, teaching, and structures that have been part of the school’s evolution from a small land-grant institution to an internationally renowned research institution. Drawing on half a century of connection with the University of Arizona as a student, staff member, and faculty member, Gregory McNamee presents a history through the lens of a hundred subjects.

That story begins in 1885, with the establishment of the school, which quickly proved itself to be a powerhouse in its foundational “four pillars”: agriculture and earth sciences, followed by astronomy and anthropology. In the years following World War II, those four pillars became ever more important to the University, even as countless other fields of study gained prominence: optical sciences, women’s studies, the humanities, mathematics, and more. This phenomenal institution has as its setting the Sonoran Desert, and, closer to home, to a built environment that is widely considered among the most scenic in the country, from the Historic District with its buildings that are more than a century old to the latest steel-and-glass constructions on the edges of the ever-expanding campus.

McNamee relates this history in an entertaining manner, peppering discussion of serious intellectual and institutional themes with lighter moments—the origins of the university's rivalry with Arizona State, the ghosts that are said to lurk about campus, and more. Wildcats everywhere will delight in McNamee’s celebration of the people, places, learning, books, and pastimes that have distinguished our school.

Gregory McNamee is the author or editor of more than forty books and author of more than ten thousand periodical pieces. He is a contributing editor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and a contributing writer to Kirkus Reviews.

"Local Renaissance man Gregory McNamee sketches the history of the University of Arizona with concision, wit, and an unerring sense of how UA developed into one of the major public universities in the world. The journey is not just entertaining; there’s real soul and substance here. Whether he’s describing the rise of international powerhouses like astronomy and anthropology or focusing on exceptional individuals like Chicano literature pioneer Miguel Mendez or water specialist Helen Ingram, McNamee captures the breadth and depth of UA’s extraordinary contributions to our state, our globe, and, indeed, our universe itself."—Tom Sheridan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, author of Arizona: A History.
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