“The nation needs to be confronted with the crime that we’re committing and the promises we are betraying. This is a book about betrayal of the young, who have no power to defend themselves. It is not intended to make readers comfortable." --Shame of the Nation

Over the past several years, Jonathan Kozol has visited nearly 60 public schools. Virtually everywhere, he has found that conditions have grown worse for inner-city children in the 15 years since federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. In Shame of the Nation, Kozol collects his observations and thoughts, offering a powerful and persuasive case that America needs to finally face the ongoing poblems with its urban schools.

Filled with the passionate voices of children and their teachers and some of the most revered and trusted leaders in the black community, The Shame of the Nation is a triumph of firsthand reporting that pays tribute to those undefeated educators who persist against the odds, but directly challenges the chilling practices now being forced upon our urban systems by the Bush administration. In their place, Kozol offers a humane, dramatic challenge to our nation to fulfill at last the promise made some 50 years ago to all our youngest citizens.

Praise for Shame of the Nation:


“The Shame of the Nation reveals the disparity in our schools as dramatically as Hurricane Katrina revealed the disparity in our society.”
–Howard Gardner, Professor of Education and Cognition, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of Frames of Mind and Changing Minds

“The Shame of the Nation is a national wake-up call about what is happening to our children on our watch in schools across the country. It should be required reading.”
–Marian Wright Edelman, CEO and Founder, Children’s Defense Fund

“Segregation is back, and only a writer of Jonathon Kozol's wisdom and passion can assess its terrible price, one child at a time. It isn't easy, but before we can craft a solution, we have to feel the shame.”
–Barbara Ehrenreich

“The Shame of the Nation is a real cry from the heart. Everybody who cares about children, about democracy, about citizenship, and about America’s future must read this book.”
–Roger Wilkins, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and Professor, George Mason University”

“Jonathan Kozol has been a voice in the wilderness for poor children in the United States. Now, in his most powerful book, he returns to the nation’s dirty little secret of re-segregation of the public schools and the erosion of Brown v. Bd. of Education. He is our nation’s conscience on issues of race, poverty and children.”
–Theodore M. Shaw, Director-Counsel & President, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.

“Shame on all of us to let this happen to our children and praise to Jonathan Kozol for telling us yet again of our gross failure to provide for our children the education they deserve.”
–John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus, Duke University

 
Jonathan Kozol is the National Book Award-winning author of Death at an Early Age, Savage Inequalities, and Amazing Grace. He has been working with children in inner-city schools for more than 40 years.