Book Description

This memoir relates the experience of a gay college professor working in an urban community college at the end of the twentieth century. Among his controversial assertions, the author argues that Affirmative Action policies have led to the ethnic cleansing of gays from America’s schools.

Comments about Robert Klein Engler:

“Engler ... is ... not only one of today’s premier gay writers, but ... an inspiring wordsmith for all audiences.”

—J. Masiulewicz, U-Direct

“...a poet of the first rank.”

—Michael Morgan ... Read more

Book Description

In Which Door Has the Cadillac?, Andrew Vazsonyi reveals the personal side of a mathematician who passionately believes that the more people know about real-life math, the better their lives will be. Laced with offbeat humor and plenty of anecdotes, his memoir will be appreciated by readers interested in a lively, personal account of the world by someone who lives and breathes math.

As Carol J. Latta, executive director of the Decision Sciences Institute, says, “For over three decades, Andy Vazsonyi has shared his passion and genius for real-world math with his colleagues in the decision sciences community.His memoir reflects the combination of his extraordinary intellect and prevailing sense of humor.”

Martin K. Starr, Distinguished Professor of Management Science and Operations Management at Rollins College’s Crummer Graduate School of Business, says, “Andy’s memoirs are an unconventional trip to places you can never find again with people who remain great even though they are no more, in ways that only Andy’s mind can fashion.” ... Read more

Reviews (3)

pretty darn good
A nice, fun autobiography. Not as good as "Surely you are Joking, Mr. Feynman", but quite entertaining. Andrew is basically a guy who started off as a 'pure' mathematician who 'sold out' to do stuff that is actually useful (due to circumstances) and has grown to love what he did as he went along applying mathematics to 'real life'. On top of it he had about at least 4 careers, going from and aerodynamics engineer for one of the early missle programs to a managment consultant to a marketing wiz to a professor. Combining this with his 'Marsian-Hungarian' background this makes for a lot of interestiong stories.

An Excellent Read!
I just finished Which Door Has the Cadillac. As far as I know it is the first autobiography written by a modern mathematician, as the others are biographies. Vazsonyi has written a fast-paced, humorous, and engaging story of his life. I was moved by his personal struggles to escape Hungary before the Nazi onslaught. Interesting anecdotes of his encounters with notable and not-so-notable people, such as Paul Erdos and Zepartzatt Gozinto, made it difficult to set the book down. My vision of math has been expanded by Vazsonyi's quirky and yet grounded examples. The probabilities associated with the Cadillac problem are excitedly counterintuitive. It doesn't surprise me that even Paul Erdos was fooled by this problem. My favorite chapter was The Galloping Fighter Plane. All and all an excellent read!

What an Amazing Life
What an interesting book from a man who has lived through the most momentous moments of the 20th century!

Don't worry --- this isn't a math book; it's the memoirs of Andrew Vazsonyi's journey from pre-war Hungary to modern-day California, and the ways that math has helped him to solve real problems, and have fun.

The style is easy and fun. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

Fred Terman was an outstanding American engineer, teacher, entrepreneur, and manager.Terman was also deeply devoted to his students, to engineering, and to Stanford University.This biography focuses on the weave of personality and place across time—it examines Terman as a Stanford faculty child growing up at an ambitious little regional university; as a young electrical engineering professor in the heady 1920s and the doldrums of the Depression; as an engineering manager and educator in the midst of large-scale wartime research projects and the postwar rise of Big Science and Big Engineering; as a university administrator on the razors edge of great expectations and fragile budgets; and, finally, as a senior statesman of engineering education.The first doctoral student of Vannevar Bush at M.I.T., Terman was himself a prodigious teacher and adviser to many, including William Hewlett and David Packard. Terman was widely hailed as the magnet that drew talent together into what became known as Silicon Valley.

Throughout his life, Fred Terman was constant in his belief that quality could be quantified, and he was adamant that a university’s success must, in the end, be measured by the success of its students. Fred Terman’s formula for success, both in life and for his university, was fairly simple: hard work and persistence, systematic dedication to clearly articulated goals, accountability, and not settling for mediocre work in yourself or in others. ... Read more

Book Description

"Noah Webster was a truly remarkable man, shrewd, passionate, learned and energetic, God-fearing and patriotic. Mr. Unger has done a fine job reintroducing him to a new generation of Americans." —Washington Times Noah Webster The Life and Times of an American Patriot "More than a lexicographer, Webster was a teacher, philosopher, author, essayist, orator, political leader, public official, and crusading editor. Webster’s life thrust him into every major event of the early history of our nation, from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812. He touched the lives of the most renowned Americans —and the most obscure. He earned the love and friendship of many, the hatred of some, but the respect of all. Noah Webster helped create far more than an American dictionary; he helped create an American nation." —from the Prologue In the first major biography of Noah Webster in over sixty years, author Harlow Unger creates an intriguing portrait of the United States as an energetic and confident young country, even when independence was fragile and the future unclear. Harlow Unger brilliantly restores Webster’s monumental legacy as a teacher,legislator, philosopher, lawyer, editor, and one of history’s most profoundly influential lexicographers. Breathtaking adventure—from the American Revolution to the War of 1812—and masterful scholarship converge in this riveting chronicle of a singularly American intellect. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An outstanding biography
This is an outstanding biography of a person who, because he never held high political office, is less well known than he deserves to be. In reading about Webster's life, one also learns much about the political controversies of the early United States--how many know, for example, that George Washington had bitter political enemies while President, or that the War of 1812 was so unpopular in New England that it prompted many there (including Webster) to discuss seceding from the Union? This biography deserves to be widely read.

Engrossing and enlightening
In his preface, the author notes that Noah Webster is so famous for his dictionary that it's overshadowed his many other achievements. Too true! I was amazed to learn of Mr. Webster's achievements in politics and education reform, particularly the influential role he played in shaping the U.S. Constitution. This book is a Must Read for anyone who wants a deeper and more accurate view into early American history.

Noah Webster deserves to be better known.
If you're ready for a reprieve from contemporary biographical sleaze, read this fine biography of Noah Webster, a good and moral man who held his family and country in balanced respect. You have lots to learn from this book if all you know about Webster is the dictionary. What surprised me was a life that spanned the years from colonial times to the mid-19th century. This was a man who never held high elective office but was an influential friend of those who did -- Washington, Franklin, John Adams and Madison. He spent months traveling up and down the East coast, espousing his beliefs in the ideals of Federalism. He advocated tirelessly for an American language and literature independent of the British tradition. To protect himself against piracy of his highly popular reader for schoolchildren, he campaigned successfully for copywright legislation. For this reader, whose last course in American History is a blurred memory, the "times" part of this story was as fascinating as the "life." I was reminded of the chaos of the country in the interim between the Revolution and Constitutional Convention, of Shay's Rebellion, of the acrimonious regionalism that nearly tore apart the young country, of the XYZ affair, and the threat to a fragile democracy of the War of 1812. I was made to recall the inadequacies of early American education and the perils of public health before urban sanitation systems. In this carefully-researched portrait, Unger presents Webster sympathetically as an American Renaissance man, curious and informed in fields from law to medicine to philosophy to lexicography. One of Yale University's early graduates, he spent his life educating himself. Because Webster was such an assiduous diarist and letter-writer, the book also provides a rich portrait of his family and private life -- his devotion to his wife and children, his frustration with a ne'er-do-well son, his financial concerns, and his delight in hearth and home. The culmination of the story is the dictionary, the product of a lifelong belief in the necessity of a uniform American language to unify the disparate voices of a young nation. Webster the scholar devoted years of careful research to this project, both at home and in Europe. His efforts secured his mention in history books. Harlow Unger's book fleshes out the man and his times with substance and grace. ... Read more

Book Description

Few books have so firmly established their place in American literature as The Education of Henry Adams. When it was first published in 1918, it became an instant bestseller and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. More than eighty years later, in an age of self-reflection and exhaustive memoirs,The Education still stands as perhaps the greatest American autobiography. The son of a diplomat, the grandson and great-grandson of two American presidents, a man of extraordinary gifts and learning in his own right, Henry Adams recounts his life from his birth in 1838 and upbringing as a Boston Brahmin, through the Civil War, the nation's industrial expansion, and its emergence as a world power. In the process, he gives us a brilliant history of a changing country as well as a thoughtful, humane, often tender exploration of himself.From the original publisher, this edition of The Education of Henry Adams, newly introduced by Donald Hall, celebrates and honors this classic work on what it means to be an American. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Philosophical Inquiries at Scientific Change
Henry Adams grew up having numerous opportunities available, yet a limited perspective inherited of politically viewing these perspectives from an unbiased, alternative point of view. However, he was far ahead of his time as he didn't allow the constraints of his traditional, plain vanilla, New England raised, Harvard educated upbrining get in his way of addressing what really matters to being happy, satisfied, contempt in 19th century American society.

This book is many things: as he himself referred to a search of meaningful truth through education that could be utilized in the long-term and is not brushed under the carpet after it's application for a particular task has been deemed unnecessary; a search for inner and outer spiritual balance and connectedness with the past, present, and unknowable future in an age of rapid change, discovery, and industrial transformation; and finally the importance of having gratitude and honoring born-out priveleges, while seeking to expand one's intellectual and social horizons and affiliations.

The analogy to the mechanistic dynamo and his educational interpretation of needing to brede scientifically minded, evolution espousing mathematical minds and his other whimsical social inferences have proved prophetic and were way ahead of his time. From his ruminations on the unique cultural differences toward the work-play ethic of Germany, France, Italy, and England , to his analysis of the ill-founded corrupt Grant and Reconstruction era Presidencies, to the evolution of the diplomatist's political importance and stature, and finally whether his life truly added something significant to himself and society, Adams is a philosophical genius listening and taking it all in as his world vastly changes and transforms itself on a locomotive train ride. In the end he found education through the traditional means of the textbook and teacher-pupil method successful if adapted toward science and technology, but inadequate as only experience and traveling brought on the proper perspective and long-term balanced outlook for an individual. These conclusive findings is the primary reason to read this philosophically inquisitive book, as many of the other's thought processes and findings bear strong truths to today's hustle-n-bustle lifestyle.

An uneven but rich take on a world in transition
Its funny how some reading experiences emcompass more than just the book itself. In the case of Henry Adams autobiographical essay collection, The Education of Henry Adams, I always think of a sunny day in the park. The first time I read the book I was still in High School and believed that I had an obligation to read all those books that had been identified as "classics". This was one. I read most of it one afternoon while sitting under a large oak tree in Shelby Park in Nashville, TN. I remember contrasting the gloom and pessimism of Adams thought with the sunny day and the optimistic prospects I believed the future held for me. I argued with him as I read. I thought his reaction to Darwin, for example, was misplaced and in bad faith. I thoroughly disagreed with his argument in the chapter "The Virgin and the Dynamo"; I felt I knew enough about the Middle Ages to prefer living in a time of electric lights, running water, medical science and imperfect democracy than in a hovel in some Medieval village dominated by King and the Roman Catholic Church. I dismissed Henry Adams as a whiner and an educated misfit who had nothing to say to me.

Its also funny how the passage of time changes one's perceptions. Rereading the book a couple of decades later I was surprised to find how much Adams and I had in common. I still didn't agree with his particular nostalgia for a time he had never experienced except in his imagination, but his sense of loss, of powerlessness, of the world slipping into some dangerous entropic state, all rang true to me. I also had read enough history of the 19th Century to appreciate more his many insightful anecdotes of the period. The subtlety of his humor and the richness of his writing style I also found appealing. I found this reading to be a much more rewarding experience - and I can't tell you a thing about where I was at the time, except deeply into the book.

SEVENTY YEARS IN THE HISTORY OF A MIND!!!
This is an amazing document that chronicles seventy years in the history of a mind. Since the mind chronicled is that of Henry Adams (who is the son of congressman/diplomat Charles Francis Adams, the grandson of President John Quincy Adams, and the great grandson of President John Adams) it is of more historical value than most other biographical memoirs. The elucidation and harsh criticism that Adams lauds upon himself and the chaos of the world during the 19th and early 20th centuries is at once acute, biting, satiric, and warm with a fervent desire to see this country come of age in the new era of modern technological advances. Even though the subtitle of the book is "An Autobiography" Adams doesn't strive to tell the story of his life, but instead tells us the story of the development of his mental processes and of his ultimate conclusions after a lifetime of political, philosophical, and historical contemplation. As a result of this rigid excise of narrative the reader loses out on some of the man's more personal and intimate moments including the controversial absence of twenty years in which his marriage to photographer Clover Adams, her subsequent death by suicide (she poisoned herself with potassium cyanide), and the writing of his massive ten volume "History Of The United States" are completely omitted (although there are some references to the latter work in the text). But "The Education" as a whole is not hurt by this absence, and the twin chapters "Darwinism" and "The Dynamo And The Virgin" foretell a haunting future in which the unity of force as established by the Church, Christianity, and the majesty of the Virgin Mary is uprooted by Darwin's theory of evolution and the "power" of technology as represented by the energy dynamos Adams witnessed at the Paris exposition of 1900. After seeing the emergence of such technology and the chaos Darwinism caused he felt that the power of force as encapsulated by the Church had been thrown into such a chaos that it could never be righted again until a new man for a new age was capable of harnessing the forces of technology and forging a new future that would repair the damage done by the dislodging of Chruch and Christianity into the fiery sea of scientific philosophy and discovery. Although the pessimism of science without religion, and the disadvantage of religion without science is a fracture that must be remedied if both studies are to help explain the reality of our existence and give us hope in facing the nuclear/biological terrorism of the 21st century in which religion alone can't stop a bomb from being deflected and destroyed, and science alone can't provide an answer to the wickedness of a human heart hell-bent for power, greed, selfish gain, hedonistic pleasure, and rampant violence against all humanity. Adams' "theory of acceleration" is a bit difficult to understand, but boils down to a figure of numbers in which the advances in technology result in an acceleration of process and modification and availability of that technology until the latest research comes along to take us away on a voyage of new discovery (i.e. the development of computers which continued on a small scale, then were refined and marketed to the whole of society, then refined and made less expensive so that every household could afford to own one, and which is now being refined once again by the internet). This simultaneous looking forward and looking back is what makes "The Education" such a prophetic and groundbreaking work, and the reason for its ranking as the number one book of the 20th century by the Modern Library.

Henry Adams -- class act
I picked up this book at the suggestion of an Amazon reader who thought it would complement "The Norman Podhoretz Reader." It does. In some ways this ranks with Ellery Sedgwick's marvelous "In Praise of Gentlemen" but I think it far too democratic for a time where standards are falling.

In any event, Adams was a deeply patrician, highly elite member of the best early American society. Breeding tells -- and thank God for the old WASP America. It is disappearing far too fast.

Reflective
Since I like autobiographies and biographies I like this book. He lets you see what a aristocratic (but Chrisitan based) family was like in the days of the establishment of the United States as a country. He talks about travels, influences, and personal reflections.

Since the theme of his book is his personal education, a thought he has on that subject seems appropriate for a review. He writes, "Unless education marches on both feet--theoryand practice--it risks going astray..." That philosophy seems to be consistent throughout the generations. If you like to compare your thoughts with those reflective adventurers of other generations, you'll like this book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The fullest, most human audio glimpses of the yoga master
This is an exceptional CD, even by SRF standards. It presents an informal talk the great yoga master gave on Christmas Day 1949. Fully 74 minutes long, it is broken into 34 tracks so that you may fastforward directly to your favorite stories.
There are too many inspirational peaks to list them all. Many are not printed or recorded elsewhere; others are presented with a new twist. Just to cite a few:
* A most delightful telling of the master's youthful experience of overcoming hunger and learning to rely implicitly on the assistance of God (track 24).
* An elsewhere-unrecorded, very touching story of the Divine Light appearing while he and some students drove through Laguna Beach: intervening to confirm his intuition in a tiny matter - of Scotch bread. (track 26)
* An ecumenical narrative expressing the divine power, devotion, and humility of St. Francis.
* A little sample of the master's lovely teasing with a student - here he teases Tara Mata (Laurie V. Pratt) (mingling it with praise for her), the highly advanced disciple who edited Autobiography of a Yogi and who has written so inspiringly of how the master initiated her into Cosmic Consciousness (see the SRF booklet, Forerunner of a New Race).

PS: I don't know why Amz has this checked as "abridged." It has been re-engineered by SRF to reduced background noise, but it IS the full talk (periods of silent meditation omitted, of course). ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Highly interpetative but amazing
This is, quite simply, one of those amazing biographies (George Painter's Marcel Proust in the '50s comes to mind) where the intrinsic interest of the subject and the searching intelligence of the author combine to make a great achievement. One could simply say, If you feel an affinity for Henry Adams, read this book, and one would be right. But it goes beyond Adams as an object of study and engages in -- highly interesting and never tendentious -- speculation; but the speculation is always interesting and to a sophisticated reader, identifiable as such. I hope this book, along with the companion volumes, reaches more readers -- any one interested in American history or letters, or for that matter the human soul, should read it. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

Captivating
This book is a describes a man's struggle to break from the "creature comforts" world to live and fish in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It told a story that was captivating because when reading, you always wanting to know what was going to happen next. The story tells of a man who achieves having the best of both worlds ands puts the utimate dream to the test. I would highly recommend this book to all adventurists and those who would like to "escape" to the alaska frontier; if not in reality, then through this book.

Leave the philosophy in Syracuse
This is a great little book and a fun read. It takes a lot of guts to do what Bob Durr did. His descriptions of the Alaskan bush and the people who live and work there are wonderful. Everyone should meet a person like Pope at least once in their lives. The philosophical discussions on board the fishing boat were sometimes tedious and less than believable, but somehow it all works. I hope Durr will write another book about the rest of his life in Alaska.

Down in Bristol bay
Bob Durr has done what many of us blue blooded males mearly dream of. He actualy takes you on his fishing trips, you feel cold, you feel wet and you feel the emotions that only come with his experiences. Bob Durr is telling his reader "follow your dreams" and have a ball doing it. A great read.

Not Bad
Not a great book but a good book and very enjoyable reading. Writing style makes for easy reading and understanding. I don't quite know how Durr's family takes to his exploits, but he seems to be having a good time chasing his dream. More power too him. Would recommend it to anyone wanting to read about a guy doing his own thing.

Enjoyable anecdotes; Story lacks depth at times
I agree wholeheartedly with Bob Durr's assertion that the appeal of the frontier is a mainstay in the American psyche. As a result, I looked forward to his perspective as a transplanted academic in the blue collar wilderness world of Alaska. The anecdotes he shares are enjoyable, although not particularly enlightening, as are the discussions with Pope in which Bob waxes philosophic at times. These are not enough. How was the emotional transition from the East coast academic world, and its associated creature comforts, to the Alaska frontier? What is the daily routine in the frontier aside from the salmon fishing? Yes, we know you drank a lot. Share some of the background and insight into your friends and associates to get a better sense of the Alaska fabric.

For what it is, a story of Alaska salmon fishing, Bristol Bay is an enjoyable read. For those readers looking for more than this, wait until Mr. Durr's next book in which he suggests he will share the trials and stress of raising a family in Alaska. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent and Culturally Authentic!
Based upon the Iliad, the story of the Trojan War, this is a wonderful activity book for young children learning about the ancient Greeks. This book is based upon the second half of the epic. What's really fantastic about this coloring book is that the art is culturally authentic, based upon real vase paintings from Ancient Greece. The story of the Iliad is retold in captions that accompany rich black and white line art.

We see not only the characters we might expect: Hector, Achilles, Patroclus, Diomedes, Paris, Ajax, Neoptolemus and Menelaus, but the book also includes women from the epic: Helen, Cassandra, Creusa, Andromache, and Penthesilia the Amazon (think Xena the Warrior Princess, but not camp). Professor Anderson also includes a picture of an African warrior from Ethiopia.

Brief Greek quotations are scattered throughout the book and may interest young people in learning the Greek alphabet.

These books are great because they are of excellent quality and very inexpensive and certain to excite the imaginations of bright young children! ... Read more

Book Description

During his thirty-seven years at Smith College, Newton Arvin published groundbreaking studies of Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville, and Longfellow that stand today as models of scholarship and psychological acuity. He cultivated friendships with the likes of Edmund Wilson and Lillian Hellman and became mentor to Truman Capote. A social radical and closeted homosexual, the circumspect Arvin nevertheless survived McCarthyism. But in September 1960 his apartment was raided, and his cache of beefcake erotica was confiscated, plunging him into confusion and despair and provoking his panicked betrayal of several friends.

An utterly absorbing chronicle, The Scarlet Professor deftly captures the essence of a conflicted man and offers a provocative and unsettling look at American moral fanaticism. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

a gentle man, a life of angst
Barry Werth is to be commended for "The Scarlett Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal." He writes aptly in unembellished prose to tell us of the sad life of the scholarly Arvin, a Smith college professor. Arvin, who wrote critically acclaimed books about Melville and Hawthorne, as well as Longfellow, helped to found the academic discipline now known as "American Studies"; by focussing on these gifted American writers, he helped establish a tradition of American literature and literary criticism. Born a generation before "coming out of the closet" was advisable or even possible, Arvin led a furtive, secretive life. He spent decades wrestling with his own conscience over his sexual orientation, and enduring depression, loneliness, and overwhelming feelings of guilt. When his apartment was raided for pornography and he was put into jail, he fell apart completely, talked freely to the police, and implicated others, who also then had to stand trial. Reading this book is a sobering and sorrowful experience. Arvin knew very little happiness, living his constricted life in a harsh, judgmental time in this country.

A Sad, Lonely, Productive, and Fascinating Life
Newton Arvin, a professor at Smith College for Women, could have fallen from grace during the McCarthy years, because he had a pinko history. He could have been ostracized because of his divorce in 1940. But he avoided scandal from his divorce and his politics, only to fall hard to it in 1960, when he was arrested for possessing pornography. Arvin still has a fine reputation among students of literary history because of a series of biographies of nineteenth century American writers, but now is otherwise obscure. His story is told in _The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal_ (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday) by Barry Werth. This is a biography that seamlessly weaves together Arvin's literary interests and the hidden parts of his life, producing a memorable picture of a loner trying to make his own way in a hostile land. It is also a fine summary of an episode of regrettable American repression.

Arvin grew up in Valparaiso, a backwater of Indiana, and knew he was different from other boys. He went on to Harvard, and then to teaching literature at Smith. What he loved was reading and working earnestly on critical biographies of Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville, and Longfellow. Werth's book shows how in successive examination of these giants, Arvin was also examining himself, coming to a better understanding of his own quiet secret life. Arvin didn't really get an understanding of his own homosexuality until he was in his forties. Of course he kept the secret from most others, but revealing it to himself initially overwhelmed him with shame. The panic and depression he felt over it would color his frequent psychiatric hospitalizations all through his life; he would go through rounds of electroconvulsive therapy. He eventually allowed this part of his personality to express itself in cruising, in the New York Bath scene, and in taking lovers such as Truman Capote. What brought Arvin down was a postal campaign against "pornographic filth in the family mailbox." The idea seems quaint and stupid now, although we fret over the same issues on the Internet, but the Massachusetts police became adept at making porno arrests as a political favor for politicians who wanted to look good in the papers. The self-righteous police arrested Arvin in 1960 for simply possessing homosexual pornography, and his world collapsed. It didn't matter, of course, that in a few years, owning pornography would no longer be a crime (and some of the examples of the items for which Arvin was arrested, illustrated in the book, look positively wholesome). He was an intellectual asset to Smith, which treated him compassionately, and his many friends found ways to support him, but to the end of his life, he remained a solitary, brilliant man who cultivated loneliness.

He found redemption again in writing, and worked on his memoir, which was never published, but which Werth has been able to study, along with the diaries. Worth's research has enabled him to write thoroughly and dispassionately about this unhappy, gifted man and what was at the time the expected treatment of homosexuals and porn fiends. This is not a gay-rights polemic, but a thorough and fascinating examination of a unique life and time.

To be an intellectual in America
Newton Arvin was a distinguished literary critic, scholar, and college professor whose influence on the early days of American literary studies is still felt today. In 1960, as the age of McCarthy's witch-hunt mentality drew to a close, Arvin and his friends were targets of a police raid, where relatively mild homoerotic materials were seized. The men were arrested and accused of having a "smut ring", leading to their felony convictions, as well as the loss of their jobs and the shame of being revealed as homosexual in 1960. Werth's biography is not only about Arvin's personal and literary life, but is also about America at this time, the puritanical crusades it supported, but which proved their own undoing. Werth's writing is a bit dull during the first half, but as it progresses, and Werth explores Arvin's life in relation to his friends (including his once-lover Truman Capote) and to the world, it becomes a fascinating story of a man who fell from grace, but who didn't let it destroy him. Not only is this a compelling sliver of gay history, but it also showcases the lives of intellectuals in a country where intelligence is progessively devalued.

Engrossing true story of professor embroiled in sex scandal
Read THE SCARLET PROFESSOR, an engrossing true story
about a college professor embroiled in a sex scandal . . . Newtown Arvin published groundbreaking literary studies in his 37 years at Smith College, and he cultivated friendships with the likes of Lillian Helman and Truman Capote . . . a social radical and closeted homosexual, he somehow survived McCarthyism.

But in September of 1960, his apartment was raided and his
collection of erotica was confiscated . . . it was then that his

troubles began . . . he was brought to trial, and in doing
so, he also named names of other so-called pornographers.

I found this part of the book particularly fascinating, in that
it helped give me a better feel for America's moral fanaticism
during that time period . . . even if you're not a fan of
biographies, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised
if you give this one a chance.

There were many memorable passages; among them:
The following day he [Newton] wrote to her again:
"I realize how good I ought (and must) be to you in
order to make you happy and keep you by me. I wish
that I could be a god and a saint and a knight and a
good companion for your sake." If Arvin was to fail as
a husband, it would not be for want of trying.

[from his journal] Reading of student papers, bluebooks,
etc. a form of torture, though inescapable at best. What
gives the extra turn of the screw is, of course, the
debased English in which most of them are written.
Reading them is a matter of rubbing an iron file over
one's teeth, or holding urine in one's mouth, or having the
racket of a bulldozer in one's ear for an hour or two on
end. Physical tiredness inevitably ensues.

The sudden seizure of his secret history completed the
shattering of Arvin's world. When he saw police returning
with the slender volumes, opening them, flipping through
their limited pages--beginning to decipher the penciled
hieroglyphics that unlocked his innermost life--it was as if
there was nothing left of him to take or preserve. He was
in utter panic, shaking his face fallen.

Talk about filling a wrong place in time....
Barry Werth's "The Scarlet Professor" is a rather dry but thorough account of Newton Arvin's self-destructive collision with the stultifying socio-political reality of post-WW II America. As a communist homosexual, his well-deserved place as a respected national scholar and critic was a train wreck waiting to occur in that era of various mass hysterias. The J. Edgar Hoover/McCarthy era, in fact, becomes the more fascinating part of this decades-long drama; we are along with cadres of feds'n'cops as they coordinate and close in on the laughably Mitty-esque "ringleaders" in the series of "smut" busts. How simple things were when the nation was so self-righteous that police squads fanned out across the land to root out stacks of gay pics and mags in people's private homes. The most lasting and valuable upshot of all this high-sounding puffery was the Mapps v. Ohio ruling that disallowed use of any evidence seized in the warrantless busts these over-zealous Christian soldiers performed.

America's puritanical silliness aside, the book relates Arvin's personal failings, self-loathing, doubts, and travails as being the focal catalyst of much of what has become conventional wisdom regarding Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, and Longfellow. Of each, Arvin was able to discern a specific experiential and/or psychosexual linkage with himself; it is this synthesis that acts as Arvin's Rosetta stone in deciphering the deeper deconstructions of his authors' lives and works.

I'll leave the more esoteric literary arguments to others. Read this as a historical document of an era rapidly fading from America's contemporary memory - so long as you don't take stone bosom-covering AG Ashcroft too seriously. He would have fit right in during those strangely paranoid fifties. ... Read more

Amazon.com

As a teacher of English literature, Jamie Zeppa would understand how the story of her journey into Bhutan could be fit into the convenient box of "coming-of-age romance," a romance with a landscape, a people, a religion, and a dark, irresistible student. An innocent, young Catholic woman from a Canadian mining town who had "never been anywhere," Zeppa signed up for a two-year stint teaching in a remote corner of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Despite the initial shock of material privation and such minor inconveniences as giardia, boils, and leeches, Zeppa felt herself growing into the vast spaces of simplicity that opened up beyond the clutter of modern life. Alongside her burgeoning enchantment, a parallel realization that all was not right in Shangri-La arose, especially after her transfer to a college campus charged with the politics of ethnic division. Still she maintained her center by devouring the library's Buddhist tracts and persevering in an increasingly fruitful meditation practice. When the time came for her to leave, she had undergone a personal transformation and found herself caught between two worlds that were incompatible and mutually incomprehensible. Zeppa's candid, witty account is a spiritual memoir, a travel diary, and, more than anything, a romance that retraces the vicissitudes of ineluctable passion. --Brian Bruya ... Read more

Reviews (58)

A personal experience in a remote place
This book is a remarkable tale of one person's courage to make a hard decision about dropping a conventional western life for a remote teaching position, and then having the fortitude to stick with it during the first couple of miserable months, despite coming very close a couple of times to giving it all up and returning to Canada. The author provides us with a very admirable snapshot of her feelings while she is going through all of this, and I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is considering moving to new surroundings or customs.

I originally read this book because I thought it would be more of a travel book about Bhutan, which is hard for foreigners to get into. The book does a reasonable job of providing a description of the terrain, landscape, people, culture, and climate. I also liked the descriptions of the political conflicts that are happening within Bhutan, and hearing about her students' voices about it.

But this book isn't just about Bhutan, it also has an ongoing theme about the author's relationship with her back-home boyfriend and new ones in Bhutan. I guess this was part of her personal story in her Bhutan experience, but I had trouble shifting back to that throughout the book, given the larger scope of the book: a western teacher in a hidden and remote country.

Overall, very good and recommended.

A journey for any reader prepared to enter remarkable world
This is a beautiful book that is at once funny, sad, informative and always honest. This book is truly a "journey into Bhutan" for both writer and reader. Zeppa's recounts her early experiences in Bhutan and the proccess of adapting to a vastly different foreign culture in a way that is both humourous and rings true. Her love story with Bhutan's landscape and its people is obvious, and her language carries the reader every step of the way. Zeppa's subsequent realization of her idealized perspective and understanding of the country's true complexity is a theme to which any overseas adventurer can relate. The book ends a bit abruptly, but overall a moving and wonderful read.

A Magical Escape
Perhaps I am influenced by a period of childhood spent in the Himalayas, but this book took me out of a life that is filled with stress and the feeling of never having done enough. Jamie Zeppa showed such love and appreciation for a culture so different to her own, and had the courage to go alone into this new world, where she had the sensitivity to understand rather than to criticize. she brought this world to me, and having been an immigrant myself I know how hard a new culture is. More people in this country should read it and understand about a different culture and the delight it can inspire.

A Joy to Read
I've never been to Bhutan and have no plans to go. A friend handed me the book as I left on a vacation. I could not put it down. It's beautifully written. Read it even if you're not about to leave for the Peace Corps.

What a Fabulous Journey!
This book is a terrific journey that is not only rich in detail, but in reality. Being a young girl from a Northern town, I found I could see myself being shocked by the differences in this simplistic, uncomplicated country. The way that Zeppa wrote this book it is both a love story with the country and a coming of age. Readers watch her grow into a more solid self sure woman as she finds her place in this wonderfully magic land. It was such a joy to read, it's easy to see that Zeppa enjoyed writing it. ... Read more

Book Description

New York City.The largest school district in the United States of America.An overwhelming sea of humanity.People of all cultures, races, creeds, and ethnicities come together in these five boroughs.Some have come to pursue the American dream, some are simply struggling to survive. But, the reality is, the over 1.1 million students who walk through the doors of the New York City public schoolsevery morning are not so different from others all across the nation.This is the story of my first year teaching in New York City.Far away from the bright lights of Broadway in Manhattan, I rolled up my sleeves and began to work in the Bronx.These are my experiences and these children are our future. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

You Should Read This Book
I really enjoyed reading this book.Once I saw that it was endorsed by Pat Riley, I new this would be a great book!!!

The stories in this book made me laugh, cry, and really care about Emily and her classroom.I commend Emily for making the committment to going into the inner-city to teach kids that many of us never think about.What a brave women she must be.

I feel this should be a required read for anyone who is either in the education field, or entering the education field.The format of this book would make it perfect for college students to read and discuss.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the future of our children, because we are all educators, reguardless of what we do for a living. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

No Ordinary Move is no ordinary Memoir
I read this book months ago and simply could not put it down. It is inspiring from Bidabes account of her encounter with a dyslexic boy whom she automatically feels the instinct to rescue, to her childhood home catching on fire, straight to how she came to form MOVE and greived every time she losta child. Linda Bidabe is not only a leader but hasso much compassion for those less fortunate than she is and this is what lead her to help chidren with severe physical disabilities, the children who were dismissed and forgotten bya system. She wanted to give these children a chance. I believe the most profound thing she said in her memoir is near the end of her story." What Good is MOVEand all our efforts to help children with disabilities learn to sit,stand and walk, if we use it to push aside a childs dream, and in its stead, impose our on so-called discernment? Our business is to discover the dream in each child, and to believe in it until it becomes a reality" What more can be said? No ordinary move is no ordinary memoir. I highlyrecommend it to those who want to be moved by a book.

A Story of Determination and Leadership
This is a very gratifying momoir of Linda Bidabe, an educator for children with severe disabilities and her corageous strive to implement a curriculum.She had me hooked at page one!Linda Bidabe was born a leader.She is a very determined individual and demonstrates this throughout her memoir.She has the strength to overcome obstacles during her life; obstacles I hope I never face.
While reading this book, I developed a high level of respect and admiration for this woman. She not only gives credit for her accomplishments, but she does not hesistate to mention how she was not able to succeed with every student.She demonstrates skills of a servant leader as she willingly sets aside her aspirations to ensure that others fulfill their dreams.Linda finds great joy out of helping others reach their goals, a virtue which deserves applauding.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written autobiography and who is ready to be inspired.

A Story of Determination and Leadership
This is a very gratifying momoir of Linda Bidabe, an educator for children with severe disabilities and her corageous strive to implement a curriculum.She had me hooked at page one!Linda Bidabe was born a leader.She is a very determined individual and demonstrates this throughout her memoir.She has the strength to overcome obstacles during her life; obstacles I hope I never face.
While reading this book, I developed a high level of respect and admiration for this woman. She not only gives credit for her accomplishments, but she does not hesistate to mention how she was not able to succeed with every student.She demonstrates skills of a servant leader as she willingly sets aside her aspirations to ensure that others fulfill their dreams.Linda finds great joy out of helping others reach their goals, a virtue which deserves applauding.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written autobiography and who is ready to be inspired. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

An Uplifting Story of Life
Unlike most books about Christa McAuliffe this one discuses Christa's life before the selection as teacher in space as well as after the selection process and it is written by the person who knew her like no one else, her mother. We learn of Christa's childhood and her spirt and joy that stayed with her during the course of her whole life. Nothing could take this away from her and with it she enriched and touched the lives of every student she had. Corrigan's book using letters and family history paints a touching portrait of Christa no one else could. Everyone should read this book and it will uplift you farther than you ever thought possible and give you a whole new out look on teachers and what the power they have to uplift. No matter what your backround is you will benefit from having read this book.

A Journal For Christa
This is a very special book for young people, especially university students who are pursuing a career in teaching to read. Even though I can tell from Mrs. Corrigan's writing that she is not a University EnglishMajor, her thoughts are sincere. This book isn't just about a beautifulperson who lost her life in the Challenger disaster, its also about thecourage of a mother who has endured the most tragic thing a mother can gothrough. Mrs. Corrigan's courage in the face of her incurable grief anddesire to reach young people inspite of her pain is admirable. This bookwho is infact about two wonderful people and when you read it, you willbecome a better person..

A Journal For Christa
I found this book to be a very touching memoir of Christa McAuliffe. The book consisted of several episodes of Christa's life. What makes this Christa biography so different from others is that they come from hermom-the person who knew her best.Grace Corrigan doesn't just make us forfall in love with Christa in this book. Because from this book I realizedwhat a wonderful person Mrs. Corrigan is herself.

A Touching Memoir
This book is honest and touching. Rarely do we receive the privelege of being allowed into the heart of a mother who has lost a son or daughter. So much is learned from Corrigan's novel. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

MY TALENTED LITTLE BROTHER
THIS BOOK COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED ME.I LIVED IT ONCE, AND NOW I'VE LIVED IN AGAIN THROUGH RON'S EYES.THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE OUR FATHER. HE TAUGHT US INTEGRITY, COMPASSION, HONESTY, AND LOVE WITH HIS QUIET WAYS AND GENTLY DEMEANOR. HE WAS BIGGER THAN LIFE TO ME. IT WAS SO HARD TO SEE WHAT HE HAD BECOME WHEN ALZHEIMERS TOOK OVER. HE HAD THE SAME SWEET DEMEANOR, BUT SOMETIMES DIDN'T RECOGNIZE US. IT WAS HARD, AND RON TOLD THE STORY BEAUTIFULLY. I CAN JUST SEE OUR DAD'S BEAUTIFUL BLUE EYES TWINKLE IN PLEASURE. THANK YOU RON FOR THIS WONDERFUL GIFT.I LOVE YOU...DIANE

Into That Good Night
A memoir called Into That Good Night by Ron Rozelle,
is the story told from Ron's point of view when he was
growing up in Oakwood and even in his present day
life. It talks about segregation in schools and in
some stores throughout the town where he grew up. This
book shows the change Ron goes through with his family
when his mother becomes sick with lung cancer. Ron
learns to appreciate his family much more as he got
older and started to realize he won't have parents
forever. He ultimately realizes this when his father
looses his battle with Alzheimer's disease. You also
see segregation come to an end in Oakwood as time
progresses. You see the town where everyone knew
everyone suddenly become very lonely and empty after
most of the population got old and passed away. There
weren't many people moving in to Oakwood because it
didn't have many job opportunities.
Ron wrote this book in a then and now format. Every
other chapter switches, describing his child hood and
what happened in the future. It is a little confusing
but you catch on right away. It's very interesting
this way because it keeps you wondering, "What
happened to Ron".
Ron's ability to describe things just painted a clear
picture of what everything was like for him back then
in my mind. He gets right to the point when he rights,
it's not hard to comprehend or anything. That is what
is likeable about his style of writing. He writes in a
very appealing manner. Into That Good Night's main
focus is about Ron's relationship with his dad.
Ron and his father were very close because Ron's
father is a very calm kind of guy. He doesn't show
much emotion where as his mother is described as moody
and not afraid to yell when something makes his mad.
This is why he had more of a connection with his
father because in many ways he was like his father.
Ron is not quick to show emotion either. Ron and his
father form a special bond.
Ron graduates high school and is drafted in to the
military. He gets shipped off to Germany for a year.
In the mean time, his mother's health is decreasing.
She is getting worse and the doctors say she doesn't
have much time left. She started chain smoking when
Ron was a kid and that led her to her deathbed.
Fortunately Ron got to say goodbye to his mom right
before he headed off to the airport to be shipped off.
He felt that finally, he and his mother were at peace
with each other.
Ron and his dad form a strong bond after Ron gets
back from the Army and gets his own apartment. His dad
comes to visit him and they spend quality time
together. A few years later Ron's father eventually
re-marries and lives with his new wife. When Ron's
father gets in his older years he starts forgetting
things. His loss of memory starts increasing and he's
even forgetting simple things like where he is. He is
diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
What is Ron going to do when one of the most
important people in his life is starting to forget who
his own son is. What is it like to die not remembering
what your life was like and what your legacy will be.
This story was very easy to relate to. It is a very
easy understanding and likeable memoir of Ron Rozelle.

A beautifully written memoir
A beautifully written memoir by Ron Rozelle whose father had Alzheimer's.Set in the author's hometown, a small town in east Texas, this account reflects not only on the time Alzheimer's affected his dad, but there are flashbacks to his years of growing up in that town and remembered incidents in his family.This book, deservingly so, was a PEN America West Creative Nonfiction Prize finalist and a Texas Institute of Letters Carr P. Collins Nonfiction Award finalist.It is good, relaxing reading as a coming-of-age in a small town story as well as an Alzheimer's memoir.

Should be an Oprah book club selection
My parents grew up in Oakwood and knew Ron's father, and that's why I read this book.However, it's a beautifully written story, and you don't have to have an Oakwood or Texas connection to appreciate it.It's a very realslice of life and captures moments with poignancy and realism.I felt likeI was there with him during all parts of the story.Oprah-this is yourkind of book-a wonderful snapshot of simple but complex nuances of smalltown life. Bravo, Ron!

An awesome through the mind of a smalltown boy.
I am a student of Mr. Rozelle at St. Thomas High School in Houston, Tx. After reading Mr. Rozelle's book and attending his creative writing course; I now love to write. He awakened the writer inside of me. His enthusiastic styles of teaching and this incredible book have inspired me to write amemoir of my own. I firmly suggest that all persons read this book, despitecertain taste. It is a masterpiece that everyone can relate to. Thank youMr. Rozelle; for inspiring me to become a fellow lover of the art ofwriting. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Pedagogies of Resistance: Women Educator Activists, 1880-960
Pedagogies of Resistance: Women Educator Activists, 1880-1960. M.S. Crocco, P. Munro and K. Weiler. New York and London: Teacher College, 1999. 132 pp.

The period in which six extraordinary women educators were very active was a crucial one in the history of the United States. It happened in the preliminary development of feminism: women's club, suffrage and civil rights organization, teachers' associations, settlement houses and the suffrage, which eventually won the vote for white women. The book begins with the time during which women like Jane Addams and Ida B Wells developed their views of education as a wide-ranging endeavor that could be the basis for social change. Within public education, leaders like Elizabeth Almira Allen of New Jersey fought for public school women teachers' right to job security and pensions. Although they were well-educated, reflective, and articulate leaders, Wells and Marion Thompson Wright were constantly placed as both different and inferior because of their gender and race. Pedagogies of Resistance strand them on its key note as women of strength by portraying how they were both empowered by the possibilities of educational careers, but at the same time they were alienated and consistently demeaned, as their authority was continually undercut by their caste status. As for Wright, she also had to face the entrenched sexism of Howard University, where she taught. Crocco, Munro & Weiler, furthermore encompasses how "(Corrine) Seed's and (Helen) Heffernan's challenge to the established social order manifested itself not only in their advocacy of progressive and democratic schools of California, but also in their willingness to defend outsiders groups such as the children of migrant farm workers during the Depression or Japanese American children during the World War II relocation."

The authors accomplishes their purpose of illuminating and highlighting courageous lives and work of six activist women educators during 1880 to 1960, as educational leaders and professionals. They convey how these women's collective focus and vision of education developed a base for establishing lessons of democracy. Providing all members of society with the same sense of empowerment these six women themselves had found was in sharp contrast to dominant ideas of the elite intellects at the time. "Their advance ideas about democracy foreshadowed the arguments of the current multicultural education movement that democracy must be multiple, inclusive, and collective. This was a time of intense conflict over the shape and purpose of education, as radical unions and socialist organizations, intellectuals and teachers and academics influenced Deweyan ideas contested the growing dominance of conceptions of standardization and social efficiency (Crocco, Munro & Weiler, 1999, p.118). These women educators did not just implement other's ideas of progressive education, their contribution and work extended the provincial concept of what progressive education meant in domains not previously considered.

In conclusion, the reader will perceive that the book's central theme is set and accomplished with Munro's persuasive stance on page 21. She writes, "I contend that these collective efforts at building community were a form of democracy in action. Interactions among academics, women's clubs, and immigrants served an important educational function by providing a mechanism for people of various classes to `speak together' as a means for widening understanding of different communities and enlarging active involvement in the work of social change (Crocco, Munro & Weiler, 1999)."These network and organizations shaped women's culture and identity that was pivotal to America's social and political development. The authors build the book well on this social-political development in the early 20th century as it influenced educational reform and theories of curriculum to rethinking educational history from an alternate perspective.

A Tale about Women Activists
The authors of the book, Pedagogies of Resistance, tell a tale about six women educator activists from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Crocco, Munro, and Weiler tale a tell which depicts their struggles and triumphs, the pitfalls they encounter, to which one ultimately succumbs, the mountains they not only climb, but stand strong at the summit, reaching it with pride, dignity, and courage, and finally attempts to capture the souls of these women as they try to make a better world for us... one that puts education first.It's a tale recounting how reform was enacted, how it developed and how it evolved to transform schools, districts, government, education, and people.Women stood strong in their beliefs and fought to change the way society treated not only women, but also immigrants and migrant workers.For example, the Hull House, which was established by Jane Addams, "... was grounded in the understanding that meaningful learning and social action occurred only when education allowed learners to define their own needs and acknowledged women, immigrants, and migrants as creators of knowledge" (p. 9).The main belief and notion throughout this book stressed the importance of men not being the only successful activists within the American educational system.The authors noted that though these women were strong, the "... power remained in the hands of a small circle of males" (p. 51).

One person, however, detailed in the book is not notable or noteworthy in my opinion... Marion Thompson Wright.Though Ms. Wright was a scholar and an academician, she gave up her children, two husbands, and literally her life for a quest of equality within the university system.She fought to be a professor in a man's world... in a world where Black women were supposed to be subservient and ill educated.Wright believed that all people should be extended the right to an education and the right for social justice and equality.She "... trusted that the democratic process, through the energetic advocacy of individuals like herself, could fulfill its promise of social and racial justice for all citizens" (p. 70).Yes, she was a model of success within academia, but she had to lie to be able to achieve that success.The price for that lie... her family, her sanity, and her morality.Eventually, she paid the highest price possible and took her own life.Though her success professionally is noted, I do not consider her achievements noteworthy or admirable.

Though the stories the author's tell continue to perpetuate the idea that we did and continue to live in a patriarchal society, the also help show how women stand up and fight for their beliefs, values, and ideas.Most books recount the tales of men and how they triumph to create or establish new schools, ideologies, and laws... most books forget to mention the female activists who fought at the same time for those same rights for all people, regardless of race, gender or class.Crocoo, Munro, and Weiler enable others to gain insight into the lives, struggles, and achievements of six women, who for their time period, were ahead of the game.

A Tale about Women Activists
The authors of the book, Pedagogies of Resistance, tell a tale about six women educator activists from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Crocco, Munro, and Weiler tale a tell which depicts their struggles and triumphs, the pitfalls they encounter, to which one ultimately succumbs, the mountains they not only climb, but stand strong at the summit, reaching it with pride, dignity, and courage, and finally attempts to capture the souls of these women as they try to make a better world for us... one that puts education first.It's a tale recounting how reform was enacted, how it developed and how it evolved to transform schools, districts, government, education, and people.Women stood strong in their beliefs and fought to change the way society treated not only women, but also immigrants and migrant workers.For example, the Hull House, which was established by Jane Addams, "... was grounded in the understanding that meaningful learning and social action occurred only when education allowed learners to define their own needs and acknowledged women, immigrants, and migrants as creators of knowledge" (p. 9).The main belief and notion throughout this book stressed the importance of men not being the only successful activists within the American educational system.The authors noted that though these women were strong, the "... power remained in the hands of a small circle of males" (p. 51).

One person, however, detailed in the book is not notable or noteworthy in my opinion... Marion Thompson Wright.Though Ms. Wright was a scholar and an academician, she gave up her children, two husbands, and literally her life for a quest of equality within the university system.She fought to be a professor in a man's world... in a world where Black women were supposed to be subservient and ill educated.Wright believed that all people should be extended the right to an education and the right for social justice and equality.She "... trusted that the democratic process, through the energetic advocacy of individuals like herself, could fulfill its promise of social and racial justice for all citizens" (p. 70).Yes, she was a model of success within academia, but she had to lie to be able to achieve that success.The price for that lie... her family, her sanity, and her morality.Eventually, she paid the highest price possible and took her own life.Though her success professionally is noted, I do not consider her achievements noteworthy or admirable.

Though the stories the author's tell continue to perpetuate the idea that we did and continue to live in a patriarchal society, the also help show how women stand up and fight for their beliefs, values, and ideas.Most books recount the tales of men and how they triumph to create or establish new schools, ideologies, and laws... most books forget to mention the female activists who fought at the same time for those same rights for all people, regardless of race, gender or class.Crocoo, Munro, and Weiler enable others to gain insight into the lives, struggles, and achievements of six women, who for their time period, were ahead of the game.

Pedagogies of Resistance
The book Pedagogies of Resisitance highlights the efforts of six accomplished female educators.The book portrays each woman effectively both in their personal life and their professional life.The accounts of the journeys that these women embarked on give us a true picture of what it means to be a progressive education activist in the Progressive Era and today. It also provides today's teachers with true accounts of how to be a maker of change. The women in this book were also forced to confront their own ideas of education and what it means to be a professional and to have a career.
In Jane Adams and Ida B. Wells, we meet two women whose work in settlement houses and women's clubs seek to promote a vision of education that was community based and directed toward social equality - an effort that was largely ignored by educational history. Marion Thompson Wright and Elizabeth Almira Allen enlisted others in their work that created a grass roots movement that collectively resisted centralized forms of education and supported a vision of education of social equality.For their work, they received less professional recognition than men in their field did.Their views created controversy and as a result, their personal lives remained scarred.
Helen Heffernan and Corinne Seeds were committed to social equality and saw public education as central to that task.For their accomplishments and struggles they have been rewarded by being forgotten, largely due to their gender.
From the stories of these women, we truly see how women struggled for a voice and for equality while instituting reform."In complex and constrained cultural milieus, women have managed to create expressions of feminist agency shaped by their own historical specificity and human particularity."

Review of Pedagogies of Resistance
Book Review ofPedagogies of Resistance: Women Educator Activists, 1880-1960
By Margaret Smith Crocco
Petra Munro
Kathleen Weiler

This book portrays the lives of six women.Each fought for social justice and in some way influenced our educational system.Munro gave a different perspective of what an educator activist was by including Addams and Wells.They were known for women's clubs and settlement houses. The work of these ladies influenced e