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Reviewed by Gabriel Santos for Readers' Favorite
The University of the Arts (UArts) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, closed its doors for good in June 2024. This should be surprising enough, given the institution’s 150-year history, but the sudden closure announcement just a few months earlier made things even more shocking. The administrators alluded to an unforeseen financial crisis as the cause, but was that really the case? In Into Oblivion, Andrew Hanna investigates financial records, metrics, lawsuits, and other evidence to get a clearer, broader picture of UArts’ collapse. The book argues that, far from sudden or unforeseen, this crisis traces back to at least 2009, and systemic failures turned a solvable problem into a ticking time bomb.
This is a rigorous analysis, but don’t let all the numbers daunt you. Everything is explained in plain language, and you’ll find plenty of graphs to understand trends and patterns visually. Andrew Hanna’s ability to wrestle with tons of disparate data, derive insights, turn these insights into easily digestible information, and guide the reader along a logical, step-by-step journey is nothing short of awe-inspiring. If you want to see what great data storytelling looks like, Into Oblivion is an instructive example. The book offers valuable takeaways for not only higher learning institutions but also organizations in general. It highlights the signs and negative consequences of institutional inbreeding, the cost of missing opportunities, the dangers of a lack of transparency and accountability, and, generally, what happens when you don’t deal with systemic issues properly.
