{"product_id":"hard-times-9780451530998","title":"Hard Times","description":"\u003cb\u003eDickens's scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCoketown, the depressed mill town that is the setting for one of Charles Dickens's most powerful and unforgettable novels, is all brick, machinery, and smoke-darkened chimneys. Its emblematic citizen, the schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind, lives to impose his version of education: facts and statistics that feed the mind while starving the soul and spirit. Inflexible and unyielding, he places conformity above curiosity and logic over sentiment, only to see his philosophy warp and destroy the lives of his own family. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFilled with memorable characters and scenes, \u003ci\u003eHard Times\u003c\/i\u003e is a daring novel of ideas--and, ultimately, a celebration of love, hope, and imagination. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith an Introduction by Frederick Busch \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eand an Afterword by Jane Smiley\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Signet Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780451530998\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.37lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 6.86h x 4.20w x 0.93d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAccelerated Reader Quiz #\/Name: \u003c\/b\u003e50672 \/ Hard Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReading Level:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.3 \/ \u003cb\u003eInterest Level:\u003c\/b\u003e Upper Grade \/ \u003cb\u003ePoint Value:\u003c\/b\u003e 20\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Charles Dickens","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43103760318645,"sku":"9780451530998","price":5.06,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_d80618a8-a098-49f2-9168-e9f69103f62f.jpg?v=1693279466","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/hard-times-9780451530998","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}