Reviews for A comprehensive study of American writer Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 1844-1911

The average rating for A comprehensive study of American writer Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 1844-1911 based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-10-10 00:00:00 Matt Franzblau In 1870, just five years after the civil war, americans measured for the first time illiteracy rates and found the figure of just 20%, while in Brazil, for instance, we had over 90% by that same time. This book helps to explain in part why America had acomplished that. As it reports, it was a consequence of serious concerns with creating a society able to make succeed the project of a democratic republic. Since the founding fathers, american society realized that education was key to the success of a democracy, and this book presents an interesting description of the common school movement, which was responsible for the widespread of primary education during the antebellum period.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-02-18 00:00:00 Ronald Woorts This book is deservedly considered the definitive authority on the Antebellum invention of centralized, state public school systems. The author tells a complex story succinctly and treats the main actors fairly (perhaps too fairly, with a frustrating and predictable tendency to point out reformers' flaws even when unnecessary). Occasionally he goes out of his way to address Marxist and other deconstructionist critiques. The time spent here is disproportionate, and means that he doesn't explore certain themes (like the allure of Prussian schools) deeply enough. But all in all these are minor quibbles with a masterly and very readable book.