Contending that many academics in American colleges hold anti-American perspectives, Horowitz lists one hundred examples who he believes are sympathetic to terrorists and non-democratic governments.

Horowitz uses quotes from the professors he names, and argues that two controversies involving former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers show that administrators refrain from challenging radicals.

"[2] Horowitz accused Dana L. Cloud, associate professor of communication studies at the University of Texas at Austin, as an "anti-American radical" who "routinely repeats the propaganda of the Saddam regime."

Cloud replied in Inside Higher Ed that her experience demonstrates that Horowitz does real damage to professors' lives—and that he should be viewed that way, not just as a political opponent.

[6] The review in the industry news digest Publishers Weekly stated that Horowitz's "intention to expose the majority of these professors as 'dangerous' and undeserving of their coveted positions seems petty in some cases, as when he smugly mocks the proliferation of departments dedicated to peace studies or considers 'anti-war activist' as a character flaw... the most egregious crimes perpetrated by the majority of these academics is that their politics don't mesh with Horowitz's.

[8] In the Los Angeles Times, columnist Rosa Brooks wrote that Horowitz's real agenda was to marginalize or eliminate "academics who deviate from the right-wing party line.

Citing the report's findings, the newspaper said Horowitz accuses sociology senior lecturer Sam Richards of reinforcing class lessons "with 'out-of-class' assignments that include the viewing of left-wing propaganda films, such as The Oil Factor, from which students learn that the 'war in Afghanistan has turned into a bloody quagmire,' ... and Occupation 101, about the horrors of Israel's 'occupation' of Palestinian terrorists,'" Richards responded, in the report, to the book's claims, saying Horowitz "disingenuously fails to note that students also receive credit for attending 'conservative' events, including a talk by none other than David Horowitz!

)"[11] In its review,[12] the progressive group Media Matters for America stated that Horowitz mentioned "nothing but out-of-class activities" and speech in 52 of the 100 profiles in the book.

[13] Paul Weyrich of the conservative Free Congress Foundation commented that "Horowitz estimates that there are about 60,000 of these radical professors in every part of the nation ... We are not talking about liberals here.

"[14] In a March 2007 debate with Horowitz, American Association of University Professors President Cary Nelson told the author: "That’s largely a book in which for many of those people their primary works of scholarship are simply set aside and ignored.