In the American university system for most of this century, the academic reward system has been blamed for both the neglect of teaching and a glut of uninspiring research. In Marginal Worth, Lionel S. Lewis examines the contemporary academic labor market to explain why teaching-which is almost universally acknowledged both off and on campus to be at the center of the American educational experience-is not at the center of the academic labor market, and why it is only modestly rewarded.