Jonathan Kozol

JONATHAN KOZOL received the National Book Award for Death at an Early Age, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for Rachel and Her Children, and countless other honors for Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, The Shame of the Nation, and Fire in the Ashes. The final and culminating work of his career is now nearing completion.

Jonathan remains one of the nation’s most eloquent and outspoken advocates for equality and racial justice in our nation’s schools. Now, more than ever, as school inequality and racial segregation have mounted to the highest levels we have seen in many decades, Jonathan argues that it's time at last to batter down the walls that have locked the children of the Black and brown and very poor into seemingly eternal separation from the mainstream of American society.

A Message for Jonathan's Loyal Readers

Exciting news!

Jonathan Kozol's newest book, "We Shall Not Bow Down," which will be published in April, directly confronts Trump's punitive and vicious assault on diversity and independent thinking and the dignity of teachers in our public schools. And Jonathan argues that it's well past time for a militant resistance on the part of decent citizens that goes far beyond the timid and ineffective efforts of the gutless Democrats in Congress. A powerful book that should rock the conscience of the nation.

"At fraught moments such as this, it is more important than ever that we have safe and trusted guides. Jonathan Kozol has always been such a guide for me and for teachers everywhere. I am painfully aware that this may be the last great book from this great thinker, which is all the more reason we should pore over every single page, relishing not only the beauty of his writing and the stories he shares, but also the delightful way in which he interacts with even the most vulnerable children." - Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers

"In every word he writes and the body of his life’s work, Jonathan has always stood, above all, for kindness—kindness toward students who look like “us” and those who do not, students who share our beliefs and cultural roots as well as those who do not. Kindness, I have always believed, is the quality that most defines Jonathan as a friend to children but also as a moral intellectual, calling all of us to rise above intolerance and the tyranny we are now confronting. May the wisdom in Jonathan’s writing help to guide us on our way. - Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers