Bøger af Peter Schrag

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, the story of a new battle for equality in America's schools.

In the years after World War II, California, always regarded as an experiment for the American future, became an encouraging model for the nation. It was admired and envied for the quality of its education system, its environment, and its progressive social outlook. However, beginning with the passage of the tax-cutting Proposition 13 in 1978, and continuing through a barrage of voter initiatives, the state has pursued a determined course of retrenchment and reaction, sending it tumbling to the bottom of the nation's"quality of life" ratings.In Paradise Lost, Peter Schrag examines the relationship between the politics of that retrenchment and the great demographic changes of recent decades. His book makes a powerful case for reinvigorating our traditional structures of representative government against the increasing power of "populism" that is often disdainful of minority rights and interests. It shows that California is still a test for the nation, and a frightening indicator of our society's readiness to assimilate and serve its new citizens.

In a book of deep and telling ironies, Peter Schrag provides essential background for understanding the fractious debate over immigration. Covering the earliest days of the Republic to current events, Schrag sets the modern immigration controversy within the context of three centuries of debate over the same questions about who exactly is fit for citizenship. He finds that nativism has long colored our national history, and that the fear-and loathing-of newcomers has provided one of the faultlines of American cultural and political life. Schrag describes the eerie similarities between the race-based arguments for restricting Irish, German, Slav, Italian, Jewish, and Chinese immigrants in the past and the arguments for restricting Latinos and others today. He links the terrible history of eugenic "e;science"e; to ideas, individuals, and groups now at the forefront of the fight against rational immigration policies. Not Fit for Our Society makes a powerful case for understanding the complex, often paradoxical history of immigration restriction as we work through the issues that inform, and often distort, the debate over who can become a citizen, who decides, and on what basis.

Aufbau - a German-language weekly - was an essential platform for the generation of refugees from Hitler and the displaced people and concentration camp survivors who arrived in the US after the war. This book examines the columns and advertisements that chronicled the social and cultural life of that generation.

From Simon & Schuster, Test of Loyalty is the story Daniel Ellsberg and the rituals of secret government—a must-read biography for any lover of history.Journalist Peter Schrag reports on the course of the famous Pentagon Papers trial, assesses its immense implications, and reveals the role of Ellsberg in the human drama.

An in-depth look at the brave new world of school finance' (Education Week) and the latest struggle for equality in public education in America.'

In the past half-century, California has been both model and anti-model for the nation and often the world. This work explains how many current "solutions" exacerbate the very problems they're supposed to solve and analyzes a variety of possible state and federal policy alternatives to restore government accountability and a vital democracy.