Essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of public education in the United States. Berkshire and Schneider provide an important context for the assault on our children’s freedom to learn, along with a blueprint for how to survive these anti-democratic attacks and win the education wars.

—Heather McGhee, New York Times bestselling author of The Sum of Us

The culture war has engulfed our schools. Extremist groups are seeking to ban books, limit what educators can teach, and threatening the very foundations of public education. What’s behind these efforts? Why are our schools so vulnerable all of a sudden? And how can the millions of Americans who love their public schools begin to fight back?

In this concise, hard-hitting guide, journalist Jennifer Berkshire and education scholar Jack Schneider answer these questions and chart a way forward.

Surviving the Education Wars explains the sudden obsession with race and gender in schools, as well as the ascendancy of book banning efforts. It offers a clear analysis of school vouchers and the impact they’ll have on school finances. It deciphers the movement for “parents’ rights,” explaining the rights that students and taxpayers also have. And it reveals how the ostensible pursuit of “religious freedom” opens the door to discrimination against vulnerable children.

Berkshire and Schneider outline the core issues driving the education wars, offering essential information about issues, actors, and potential outcomes. In so doing, they lay out what is at stake for parents, teachers, and students and provide a roadmap for ensuring that public education survives this present assault.

A book that will enrage and enlighten the millions of citizens who believe in their public schools, here is a long-overdue handbook and guide to action.