Jonathan Kozol: Amazing Grace: The Lives Of Children And The Conscience Of A Nation

There has always been much talk about poor children and the dirty, hungry, hopeless lives they lead. Only Jonathan Kozol has taken the next logical step: talking to them. At its heart, Amazing Grace is the story of the children of Mott Haven, one of the poorest neighborhoods of New York, as well as a nation that sometimes seems to only pretend to love children. Kozol pays them the supreme compliment of letting them tell it in their own words, and this gives Amazing Grace an unusually sensitive, dignified warmth. These children may be badly educated and brutalized by poverty, but they are by no means made any less human; Kozol has a gift for respectful listening, for not asking melodramatic or leading questions, and for valuing his subjects' lies and inaccuracies as vital parts of a larger picture. This new updated and corrected version of Amazing Grace is more than a powerful, important book—it is a brilliant testimonial in defense of all children, everywhere.