Why the university should focus on community: "An enlightening interpretation of Wendell Berry's philosophy for the pursuit of a holistic higher education." — Publishers WeeklyProminent author and cultural critic Wendell Berry is well known for his contributions to agrarianism and environmentalism, but his commentary on education has received comparatively little attention. Yet Berry has been eloquently unmasking America's cultural obsession with restless m...

A groundbreaking manifesto about what our nation’s top schools should be—but aren’t—providing: “The ex-Yale professor effectively skewers elite colleges, their brainy but soulless students (those ‘sheep’), pushy parents, and admissions mayhem” (People).As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically ...

Since Theodor Geisel published his first children's book in 1937 under the pseudonym Dr. Seuss, children and adults alike have been captivated by the charming and laconic tales of whimsical characters and imaginative worlds. But Dr. Seuss' stories are more than just catchy poems; they often wrestle with serious philosophical and moral dilemmas, whether it is Horton discovering the very essence of life or the Lorax teaching us about morality. Dr. Seuss and Philosophy explores philosophical ...

A Clarion Call to Save America's Future by Empowering the Next GenerationIn The Vanishing American Adult, Senator Ben Sasse warns of an existential threat facing America. A generation of young people, raised by overprotective parents and coddled by misguided government programs, is ill-equipped to survive in today's highly-competitive global economy.Core coming-of-age experiences like learning the value of work, leaving home to start a family, and ...

This insightful and brilliant analysis of ethics teaches readers valuable skills in evaluating tough choices and arriving at sound conclusions.“A thought-provoking guide to enlightened and progressive personal behavior.”—Jimmy CarterAn essential guide to ethical action updated for our challenging times, How Good People Make Tough Choices by Rushworth M. Kidder offers practical tools for ethical decision-making in the difficult moral dilemmas we face in our e...

In Teaching Critical Thinking, renowned cultural critic and progressive educator bell hooks addresses some of the most compelling issues facing teachers in and out of the classroom today.In a series of short, accessible, and enlightening essays, hooks explores the confounding and sometimes controversial topics that teachers and students have urged her to address since the publication of the previous best-selling volumes in her Teaching series, Teaching to Transgress

A lively and accessible guide to understanding rhetoric by the world class English and Law professor and bestselling author of How to Write a Sentence.Ever wonder how gay marriage became accepted over such a short period, after thousands of years of peril? Or how you were dumb enough to get in that last quarrel with your significant other? Or how Donald Trump became the clear front-runner in the Republican presidential primary? Or how millions continue to d...

The powerful case for a society of mutual respect.As various forms of social welfare were dismantled though the last decade of the twentieth century, many thinkers argued that human well-being was best served by a focus on potential, not need.Richard Sennett thinks differently. In this dazzling blend of personal memoir and reflective scholarship, he addresses need and social responsibility across the gulf of inequality. In the uncertain world of "flexible" social relationsh...

Transform your child's education from institutional compliance to intellectual freedom. Former New York State Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto reveals how compulsory schooling creates dependent workers instead of independent thinkers, replacing natural curiosity with rule-following conformity. Over 30 years of classroom experience led to his revolutionary discovery: genius is as common as dirt, but conventional education systematically destroys it.Why ...

The strengths and failures of the American college, and why liberal education still mattersAs the commercialization of American higher education accelerates, more and more students are coming to college with the narrow aim of obtaining a preprofessional credential. The traditional four-year college experience—an exploratory time for students to discover their passions and test ideas and values with the help of teachers and peers—is in danger of becoming a thing of ...

Race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality: in the past couple of decades, a great deal of attention has been paid to such collective identities. They clamor for recognition and respect, sometimes at the expense of other things we value. But to what extent do "identities" constrain our freedom, our ability to make an individual life, and to what extent do they enable our individuality? In this beautifully written work, renowned philosopher and African Studies scholar Kwame A...

The Green Halo is a highly readable introduction to the vast field of contemporary ecological thought. It is a basic education in environmental philosophy and a welcome propadeutic for understanding the most crucial problem facing humankind in the coming century: How can humans live on this earth so that they do not destroy the preconditions for their own existence?