Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference

In 1969, Mark Edmundson was a typical high school senior in working-class Medford, Massachusetts. He loved football, disdained schoolwork, and seemed headed for a factory job in his hometown--until a maverick philosophy teacher turned his life around.

When Frank Lears, a small, nervous man wearing a moth-eaten suit, arrived at Medford fresh from Harvard University, his students pegged him as an easy target. Lears was unfazed by their spitballs and classroom antics. He shook things up, trading tired textbooks for Kesey and Camus, and provoking his class with questions about authority, conformity, civil rights, and the Vietnam War. He rearranged seats and joined in a ferocious snowball fight with Edmundson and his football crew. Lears's impassioned attempts to get these kids to think for themselves provided Mark Edmundson with exactly the push he needed to break away from the lockstep life of Medford High. Written with verve and candor, Teacher is Edmundson's heartfelt tribute to the man who changed the course of his life.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 09/09/2003
ISBN: 9780375708541
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.22w x 0.62d

Review Citations: New York Times 09/14/2003 pg. 28
Kliatt 11/01/2003 pg. 35