Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools

Author: Jonathan Kozol

First line: "East of anywhere," writes a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, often evokes the other side of the tracks."

Why you should read it: More than fifteen years ago, Kozol traveled around the country visiting wealthy and impoverished school districts and exposed the two-tiered education system that keeps our poorest children in poverty and provides every advantage for the rich. Segregation still exists, and even though wealthy children have access to three times the educational resources of disadvantaged kids, proponents of the system insist that money is not a factor in education. Today, the No Child Left Behind Act continues to reinforce this divide and rob the nation of democracy in education.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You work in the public schools and you're already aware of the capitalist nature of American education.