Jonathan Zimmerman
Beautifully written, clearly organized, and deeply grounded in a nice mix of primary and secondary sources, Democracy's Schools is the best short introduction to antebellum public education that I've ever read. It is also hugely relevant to ongoing questions about liberal arts and democracy.
James Kloppenberg
"In this outstanding study, bursting with fresh insights, Johann Neem balances critical assessments of common school reformers’ vision of American education against a sympathetic understanding of their aspiration to provide all Americans the tools necessary for "self-culture," an ambitious ideal of a fulfilling life. Democracy’s Schools shows how these tensions shaped antebellum American politics and social life as well as education, and why struggles between a shared national vision and distinctive local institutions remain at the heart of debates about education in a pluralist democracy."
Mike Rose
In this compact and ambitious interpretive history, Neem does a masterful job of laying out the many, frequently conflicting, values and ideas that make the public school such a dynamic and essential democratic institution.
James T. Kloppenberg
In this outstanding study, bursting with fresh insights, Johann Neem balances critical assessments of common school reformers’ vision of American education against a sympathetic understanding of their aspiration to provide all Americans the tools necessary for 'self-culture,' an ambitious ideal of a fulfilling life. Democracy’s Schools shows how these tensions shaped antebellum American politics and social life as well as education, and why struggles between a shared national vision and distinctive local institutions remain at the heart of debates about education in a pluralist democracy.
From the Publisher
Beautifully written, clearly organized, and deeply grounded in a nice mix of primary and secondary sources, Democracy's Schools is the best short introduction to antebellum public education that I've ever read. It is also hugely relevant to ongoing questions about liberal arts and democracy.—Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania, author of Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know
In this compact and ambitious interpretive history, Neem does a masterful job of laying out the many, frequently conflicting, values and ideas that make the public school such a dynamic and essential democratic institution.—Mike Rose, University of California–Los Angeles, author of Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America
In this outstanding study, bursting with fresh insights, Johann Neem balances critical assessments of common school reformers’ vision of American education against a sympathetic understanding of their aspiration to provide all Americans the tools necessary for 'self-culture,' an ambitious ideal of a fulfilling life. Democracy’s Schools shows how these tensions shaped antebellum American politics and social life as well as education, and why struggles between a shared national vision and distinctive local institutions remain at the heart of debates about education in a pluralist democracy.—James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University, author of Toward Democracy: The Struggle for Self-Rule in European and American Thought