Myles Horton (1905–1990)

Fascinating book where two rad old men talk about their rad old lives. Lots of cool stuff in here about how they think about education, social change, and living life. Totally fun, and seems like it'd be useful if you're at all interested in empowering the people around you and/or education or just how some very interesting people thought and lived their lives.

Reading this book kicked off a whole swarm of poorly-formed thoughts about how to live my life. I want to re-read this book in a few show more months- hopefully it will help those thoughts fall into place. If this plan works I'll come back and update to a 5. show less

This book was an intriguing read that sometimes reinforced my philosophy on education and sometimes challenged it. Published in 1990, the ideas discussed are still very relevant to current events both in and outside the realm of education. I appreciated the cognitive dissonance.

This book is critical reading if you want to put today's events in perspective.

Myles Horton was an extraordinary man with a singular vision: to live a life promoting social justice. During his life, Myles was influenced by and in turn influenced many of the United States most important social activists of the 20th Century. His power came not from hobnobbing with the popular and famous but by devoting himself to our nation's least powerful. Unlike politicians and many social activists, Myles show more listened to what the poor had to say and spent his life facilitating their self-education and organizing.

Myles was the son of a poor Appalachian family. He never forgot his roots and spent his life attempting to find social justice for poor people all over the United States.

This is an excellent book because, through Myles we are reminded that if democracy is to survive then we must all be involved every day. For Myles, democracy was an everyday affair, carried out in the plant, at the courthouse, in the schools, on Main Street. Democracy was and is a repudiation of the autocratic model of top-down decision making. It is the repudiation of social and economic injustice that produces the condensed wealth and privilege that we see in the U.S. today.

Social and economic justice are the cornerstones of our liberty and our most valuable responsibility. This book can inspire young people to take action and re-inspire older citizens who have grown weary of the political and economic charade.

I highly recommend this book. show less

This was an incredibly moving story of persistence, foresight, and courage. I read this many years ago, soon after publication (early 1990's?),