The Conspiracy Of The Good: Civil Rights And The Struggle For Community In Two American Cities, 1875-2000 (History Of Schools And Schooling)

The Conspiracy of the Good: Civil Rights and the Struggle for Community in Two American Cities, 1875-2000 (History of Schools and Schooling)

The Conspiracy of the Good addresses nagging questions that are part of the public debate over schooling. Why do our public schools, especially those in poor and working-class communities of color, fail to live up to the promises of the American dream? Why do reforms, those standard items in political campaigns, fail to create meaningful change? This book argues that ?rogressive? well-meaning, good-hearted men and women, who often advocate ?ood intentions?in the name of ?elping those in need? have ended up doing more harm than good.The Conspiracy of the Good explores how these ?ood intentions?go awry. Michael E. James argues that the core value of the American experience is conflict - not consensus - despite what mainstream historians have espoused over the last few decades.Review?e are forever misremembering history, either through outright distortion or, more commonly, through simple neglect. Michael E. James adds a brilliant new dimension to our understanding of race, power, and schooling across the so-called American century.?(Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of Education and History, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University) ?ichael E. James has provided a powerful lens by which to rethink my myths, motivations, and actions and their unintended outcomes. In short, James has helped me understand my Southern roots. This book is Southern history - and mine as well.?(Mollie Quinn, Professor of Educational Philosophy, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York) ?ichael E. James writes with the knowledge of a scholar but in the style of more accessible writers. James has found a literate voice with which to tell the important story of race and civil rights in the United States.?(John Beineke, Dean and Professor of Educational Leadership/Curriculum, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas)About the AuthorThe Author: Michael James attended public schools in Los Angeles where he graduated from The California State University and did his graduate work at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. He has published extensively in the history of education. His most recent book is an edited volume of essays,Social Reconstruction Through Education (1995). He lives in Lyme, Connecticut, with his wife and three children.