“Enter Gerald Coles, educational psychiatrist and acclaimed author . . . a rare breed among educational writers and researchers. [He has written] a timely, superbly documented, assertive and informative critique of a controversy that has escalated into a passionate, highly politicized war.” —Catherine Hill, Boston Book Review

“Gerald Coles makes clear that which so many pundits have spent so long making obscure. In reconnecting literacy to the rest of human social, political, and emotional experience, he makes the kind of real-life common sense that could actually engender dramatic educational change. An important work that trumps the bankrupt terms of most current literacy debate.” —Louise Armstrong, author of And They Call It Help: The Psychiatric Policing of America's Children

“[Coles] once again puts truth and the real needs of children ahead of professional interests and controversies. In an indispensable book for anyone who cares about the development and education of children, he focuses on what really matters--the social and economic conditions under which our children live and learn” —Peter R. Breggin, M.D., author of Talking Back to Ritalin