The Night is Dark and I Am Far from Home: A Political Indictment of the U.S. Schools, 4th Ed.

by Jonathan Kozol

Book Overview

Kozol, author of Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America, offers an absorbing analysis of the ethical crisis confronting our culture. In this fourth edition, a new introduction and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671724177
• ISBN13: 9780671724177
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Relentless and Powerful

Critics might say that this book is not just about U.S. public schools, or even primarily about U.S. public schools. I think that's true. I think this book is primarily about what it means to live a moral and conscientous life. The political right has written a lot of books about the "death of moral outrage." This book is an answer from the political left, and about as powerful an answer as there can be. This book is old, and not as well-known as some of Kozol's other work, such as _Savage Inequalities_ (also a great book), and I don't know if anyone is going to see this review or consider purchasing this book, but I hope so. It deserves it. It does not overstate the case to say that this book influenced me personally, more than any other non-fiction book I have ever read, and I wish that everyone had the chance to read this book.

His best book

This is his best book. I don't understand why it hasnt been reprinted. When I was a kid, a teacher gave this book to me and it changed my life. It is so gorgeous, full of insight and daring.

PLEASE REPRINT this most extraordinary book

Do you want to see education change, become more meaningful and substantive? Read Kozol.The collection of essays in this book are beautiful and still timely. The humanity in Kozol's voice and ideas resound. This book is for everyone, but is absolutely critical for anyone involved in education.When I started teaching the book gave me strength and a critical perspective on the politics of education. Over time it has inspired me, and I return to it again and again. It helps me believe in what I do. It connects the classroom to the world around it and puts issues like "classroom management" in a new context. This book shows us to not fear students voices --- and to not fear our own. Even more significantly, I use several of the essays in classrooms with high school and undergraduate students. When students read these essays they ALWAYS provoke antimatied and moving discussions about the hidden meanings of school curriculums, issues of power, and most significantly, become empowered by their own ideas. Students never look at the revoltionaries... --- like MLK, Malcolm X, Thoreau, or Hellen Keller ---the same way again. Kozol introduces the possibility of not just worshipping them in a vague and distant way, but of making their ideas come alive, and making them matter. Kozol cuts to the bone. Whether you find him moving or provocative, you can't encounter Kozol and leave unchanged. The essays in this book are amoungst his most timeless works, as relevant today as when he explored them in the 1970s.Kozol believes that we can enter into history and make a difference in big and small ways. Through this book he has convinced me. The prose is terrifc and the ideas are accessible and clear. ...

Must be made available! Publisher, please print again!

A searing and moving piece of work. Must be made available to the general public.The book is almost impossible to find. With the draconian changes we are seeing as "welfare reform" savages millions of children, women and men Kozal's words must be in the forfront of the American peoples minds. My copy is lost, if anyone can lead me to one please contact.