"Blessed Harlaxton, My Home": Harlaxton Essays

"Blessed Harlaxton, My Home" is a nostalgic, whimsical, sometimes quirky, often humorous journey through life and learning in a magical place--Harlaxton College in England. This #1-ranked study-abroad program from American universities is located in Lincolnshire's magnificent Harlaxton Manor, itself one of Britain's "100-best" stately homes.

Written by a just-retired former principal, Dr. Gordon Kingsley, these short sketches offer a loving but clear-eyed trek through the place itself ("Harlaxton Manor: Mystery, Miracle, Drama," "Unlocking the Secret Rooms--and Secret Beauty--of Harlaxton Manor"), the legendary British Studies Programme and Harlaxton's high academic demand ("The Cult," "The Garden Song"), student life ("Oh, You Mean That Boston Marathon?" "Naked Mile Lane," "Did You Get to Travel?" "Free Coffee in the Bistro," "Who Did You Say You Saw in the Great Hall of Harlaxton Manor? Did You Say Kevin Spacey?" "The White Trash Party," "The Harlaxton Family Christmas"), some of Harlaxton's people ("Her Honour, Jan," "Professor Ziggy," "A Hero at the Security Desk?" "Mr. Kirk," "Bob, The Swan," "Billy James and His Magical Bagpipes," "Ridley," "Grantham, Isaac Newton, and Maggie Thatcher"), and what it all means to the author himself ("Mohammed Led Me By the Hand Down Mt. Sinai" and "'80' and '81'").

Taken all together, these short sketches bring to life the Harlaxton Experience, a magical-mystical time of life that has for nearly fifty years--from the days when it was Stanford in Britain to today as a campus of the University of Evansville--led generations of students and faculty, staff members and friends, from Britain and from colleges and universities all across America, to say what has become almost a sacred mantra: "Harlaxton changed my life."