Advance Praise for Breaking Free

"Parental choice in education is the leading civil rights issue of our day, and Sol Stern's observations—drawn from across decades of experiences as public school student in World War II New York, sixties radical, writer, and father—explain why so many of us view school choice as a moral imperative."
William J. Bennett
Former U.S. Secretary of Education

"What a powerful and timely book! The Supreme Court says school choice is constitutional. Now Sol Stern explains why it's the essential alternative to a smug, sclerotic and monopolistic public-education establishment that never puts the kids' or parents' interests first. If you didn't already understand the need to carve an exit door for children, Stern's harrowing tales will open your eyes and boost your blood pressure."
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University &
President, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

"It's harder to learn what happens inside big-city schools than to get information from the battlefront. Unlike the modern army, urban schools don't allow reporters to embed themselves within their operations. In his riveting insider's account of New York City's public schools, Sol Stern brilliantly exploits the access of a parent and a teacher's spouse with the observational skills of a first-rate reporter to explain to us what we have long feared but not really understood."
Paul E. Peterson
Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government
Director, Program on Education Policy and Governance