Americas Schools

In 1925, when Tennessee lawmakers banned the teaching of evolution in public schools, teacher John Scopes challenged the law--and set off a gripping circus of a legal battle. Two masterminds faced off in a blistering courtroom debate over creationism and natural selection, each armed with the books they believed belonged in classrooms.

How is it that, half a century after Brown v. Board of Education, educational opportunities remain so unequal for black and white students, not to mention poor and wealthy ones? In his important new book, Five Miles Away, a World Apart, James E. Ryan answers this question by tracing the fortunes of two schools in Richmond, Virginia - one in the city and the other in the suburbs. Ryan shows how court rulings in the 1970s, limiting the scope of desegregation, laid the groundwork for the sharp disparities between urban and suburban public schools that persist to this day.

In the first half of the 20th century, Dunbar was an academically elite public school, despite being racially segregated by law. By the 1950s, Dunbar High School was sending 80 percent of its students to college. Today, as with too many troubled urban public schools, the majority of Dunbar students struggle with reading and math. Journalist and author Alison Stewart, whose parents were both Dunbar graduates, tells the story of the school’s rise, fall, and path toward resurgence.

Unearth the untold stories of bourbon whiskey: Immerse yourself in the riveting history and exciting future of America's native spirit!

Respected scholar William Bennett reacquaints America with its heritage in the third volume of America: The Last Best Hope (Volume III). This engaging narrative slices through the cobwebs of time, memory, and prevailing cynicism to reinvigorate America with an informed patriotism. America began...

This collection of true stories puts the listener in the action, providing humor and nostalgic adventures of a young boy growing up in America in the 1950's. This book continues where Part One left off, with me being 9 years old and halfway through grade school. This is the second of a four-book series that progresses through grade school, junior high and high school.

Two centuries ago, London school reformer Joseph Lancaster swept into New York City to revolutionize its public schools. In Mr. Lancaster's System, Adam Laats tells the story of how this abusive, scheming reformer fooled the world into believing his system could provide free high-quality education for poor children. The system never worked as promised, but thanks to real work done by students, teachers, and families, Lancaster's failed reforms eventually led to the creation of the modern public school system.

The renowned legal experts behind Say the Right Thing return with this clarion call for reimagining the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in a divided nation. Equality in America is under siege. Corporations and universities are abandoning the DEI programs they previously championed...

Many seek leadership rooted in Christian values to help navigate the challenges of modern life. Faith Fading takes you on a compelling journey through this pivotal transformation, examining how and why this change is occurring; while exploring ways faith can continue to guide us through these uncertain times.

This "provocative and personally searching"memoir follows one mother's story of enrolling her daughter in a local public school (San Francisco Chronicle), and the surprising, necessary lessons she learned with her neighbors. From the time Courtney E. Martin strapped her daughter, Maya, to her...

Michael Savage's powerful, unmatched mix of razor-sharp wit and explosive socio-political commentary has made him into a cultural phenomenon, becoming not only one of America's most popular radio talk-show hosts, but also a best-selling author. This is his latest assault on the corrosive effects of liberalism on American culture.

In this powerful narrative non-fiction debut, the lives of these three characters provide listeners with a vivid and sobering portrait of education in twenty-first-century America. Hope Against Hope works in the same tradition as Random Family and There Are No Children Here to capture the challenges of growing up and learning in a troubled world.

With mouthwatering storytelling and open-hearted honesty, Brigid Washington serves The Devil Wears Prada for the “yes, chef” generation. "What truly makes Salt, Sweat & Steam exceptional is that it is told from the point of view of a young, female, Trinidadian student. It is a fascinating...

Who is a hero? From first responders and soldiers to teachers and friends, discover what makes a real-life hero in this story from Adam Kinzinger, veteran and former congressman. Take to the skies with a boy and his pilot dad as they visit sites across the United States in search of heroes. As...

An incisive narrative about a teen rape case that divided a Rust Belt town, exposing the hostile and systemic undercurrents that enable sexual violence, and spotlighting ways to make change. In football-obsessed Steubenville, Ohio, on a summer night in 2012, an incapacitated sixteen-year-old...

A Black Minneapolis cop and inner-city football coach faces racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd inflames his city and forces him to explore the tensions in the neighborhood where he grew up. Charles Adams is a product of the Minneapolis’s North Side, the city’s poorest...

Near the start of the 19th century, as the newly established United States looked outward toward the wider world, a group of eminent Protestant ministers formed a grand scheme for gathering the rest of mankind into the redemptive fold of Christianity and "civilization". Its core element was a special school for "heathen youth" drawn from all parts of the Earth, including the Pacific Islands, China, India, and increasingly, the native nations of North America. If all went well, graduates would return to join similar projects in their respective homelands.

From Ethan Canin, bestselling author of The Palace Thief, comes a stunning novel, set in a small town during the Nixon era and today, about America and family, politics and tragedy, and the impact of fate on a young man’s life. In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the son of working-class parents...

School of Errors: Rethinking School Safety in America establishes another voice in the discussion of how to promote safe schools. It challenges the unchecked expansion of school fortification and questions the realized benefit of interagency collaboration during a sentinel event. This book offers an alternative to traumatizing simulations by providing clear options for improving school safety through leakage detection and sensemaking. School of Errors restores the scientific method to school safety and clears a path through the media rhetoric fogging this vital topic.

In this captivated novel, a young Korean American woman attempts to distance herself from her family in order to forge an authentic future—but a violent act forces her to see that she’ll always be implicated with their actions and they with hers. "A pulsating signal from the liminal zone...