"History rests on the assumption that you don't have to be a caesar to understand a caesar," says Thernstrom. "It rests on the assumption that [scholarship] transcends barriers of time, race and place."

As for women's studies, Thernstrom says he is doubtful that it constitutes a distinct discipline. He says "men and women are inseparable. I am dubious about a segregated program, but I did support it initially."

The organization has gained popularity not only among conservative scholars, but also among liberals at schools such as Duke University. Says Wilson, NAS has evolved to include people on both sides of the political spectrum.

"The NAS is a group of academic libertarians," Wilson says. "It has both liberal and conservative thinkers. The group argues for the libertarian view against excess."

But critics charge that the group is fighting a nonexistant war. They say that the canon is dynamic, and that to reflect the changing face of American culture and scholarship, it must include women and minority voices.

"There is no such thing as a western canon," says Barbara E. Johnson, who this year chaired Harvard's Atro-Am Department, and will next year head its Women's Studies Department. "The canon is alive. It changes over time. You don't have to read books because your elders have read them, but because you find them interesting."