The Heart of Progress

The Heart of Progress

by | Mar 28, 2021

A Road to Nowhere: The Idea of Progress and Its Critics by Matthew W. Slaboch. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. Hardcover, 208 pages, $47.50. Reviewed by Luma Simms My parents marveled at the freeways when we first came to America. As they learned to drive the...
Progressing to Nowhere?

Progressing to Nowhere?

by | Sep 6, 2020

Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea by Bradley C. S. Watson. University of Notre Dame Press, 2020. Hardcover, 251 pages, $45. Reviewed by John C. Chalberg Just who were the original progressives of a century ago? They reached all the way from Social...
What Lasch Knew

What Lasch Knew

by | Apr 5, 2020

The Topeka School: A Novel by Ben Lerner. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019. Hardcover, 304 pages, $27. Reviewed by Jon K. Lauck Ben Lerner has written an intense new novel that will mark our cultural moment for some time, even in these strange days, but in ways that,...
A Timeless History of Public Education

A Timeless History of Public Education

by | Jul 28, 2019

Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America by Johann N. Neem. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. Hardcover, 256 pages, $55. Reviewed by Addison Del Mastro Democracy’s Schools is written by Johann Neem, an Indian immigrant brought to America as a...