Jonathan Kozol

An analysis of urban education argues that conditions have worsened for inner-city children, looking at how liberal education is being replaced by high-stakes testing procedures, culturally barren and robotic methods of instruction, and harsh discipline.

The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

The Shame of the Nation

The children in this book defy the stereotypes of urban youth too frequently presented by the media. Tender, generous and often religiously devout, they speak with eloquence and honesty about the poverty and racial isolation that have wounded but not hardened them. The book does not romanticize or soften the effects of violence and sickness. One fourth of the child-bearing women in the neighborhoods where these children live test positive for HIV. Pediatric AIDs, life-consuming fires and gang rivalries take a high toll. Several children die during the year in which this narrative takes place. A gently written work, Amazing Grace asks questions that are at once political and theological. What is the value of a child's life? What exactly do we plan to do with those whom we appear to have defined as economically and humanly superfluous? How cold -- how cruel, how tough -- do we dare be?

Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, The

Amazing Grace

Continuing the stories of inner-city children he has known for many years, the author shares the personal journeys of youths who have struggled to work through formidable racial and economic inequalities while approaching adulthood.

Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America

Fire in the Ashes

A deeply personal account of the life of the author's father, a nationally renowned neurologist who, after a life of helping to establish emerging fields in mental health, succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. By the National Book Award-winning author ofFire in the Ashes.

Losing My Father, One Day at a Time

The Theft of Memory

An account of the inequity in the American educational system examines the deplorable conditions in which inner-city children are educated

Children in America's Schools

Savage Inequalities

Homeless Families in America

Rachel and Her Children

A young teacher offers a firsthand account of the destructive effects of segregated Boston schools and their teachers on the African American children who attend them

The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools

Death at an Early Age

Children in the Years of Hope

Ordinary Resurrections

Letters to a young teacher

"A bold inquiry into the values and goals of America's schools."--Cover.

The Night is Dark and I Am Far from Home

“This remarkable book is a testament to teachers who not only respect and advocate for children on a daily basis but who are the necessary guardians of the spirit. Every citizen who cares about the future of our children ought to read this.”—Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other classic works for children “Kozol’s love for his students is as joyful and genuine as his critiques of the system are severe. He doesn’t pull punches.”—The Washington Post In these affectionate letters to Francesca, a first grade teacher at an inner-city school in Boston, Jonathan Kozol vividly describes his repeated visits to her classroom while, under Francesca’s likably irreverent questioning, he also reveals his own most personal stories of the years that he has spent in public schools. Letters to a Young Teacher reignites a number of the controversial issues Jonathan has powerfully addressed in his bestselling The Shame of the Nation and On Being a Teacher: the mania of high-stakes testing that turns many classrooms into test-prep factories where spontaneity and critical intelligence are no longer valued, the invasion of our public schools by predatory private corporations, and the inequalities of urban schools that are once again almost as segregated as they were a century ago. But most of all, these letters are rich with the happiness of teaching children, the curiosity and jubilant excitement children bring into the classroom at an early age, and their ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an adoring and hard-working teacher.

Letters to a Young Teacher

A profile of impoverished children in Mott Haven, South Bronx, reveals the human realities of their difficult lives and poses critical questions about the value of such children to an unsupportive nation. 125,000 first printing. Tour.

The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation

The author shared personal reflections, anecdotes, wisdom, and guidance in his letters to Francesca, a first-year teacher, as he attempted to help her deal with the challenges she faced and encouraged her to do her best.

It is startling and it is shaming: in a country that prides itself on being among the most enlightened in the world, 25 million American adults cannot read the poison warnings on a can of pesticide, a letter from their child’s teacher, or the front page of a newspaper. An additional 35 million read below the level needed to function successfully in our society. The United States ranks forty-ninth among 158 member nations of the UN in literacy, and wastes over $100 billion annually as a result. The problem is not merely an embarrassment, it is a social and economic disaster. In Illiterate America, Jonathan Kozol, author of National Book Award-winning Death at an Early Age, addresses this national disgrace. Combining hard statistics and heartrending stories, he describes the economic and the human costs of illiteracy. Kozol analyses and condemns previous government action—and inaction—and, in a passionate call for reform, he proposes a specific program to conquer illiteracy. One out of every three American adults cannot read this book—which is why everyone else must.

Illiterate America

"Extraordinarily affecting....A very important book....To read and remember the stories in this book, to take them to heart, is to be called as a witness." THE BOSTON GLOBE There is no safety net for the millions of heartbroken refugees from the American Dream, scattered helplessly in any city you can name. RACHEL AND HER CHILDREN is an unforgettable record for humanity, of the desperate voices of the men, women, and especially children, and their hourly struggle for survival, homeless in America.

Jonathan Kozol

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