The Underground History of American Education
An Intimate Investigation into the Prison of Modern Schooling, by John Taylor Gatto (2001)
Read by Lyn Gerry for episodes 315 - 372, and by Robin Upton for episodes 608, 634, 643, 644 & 646 List of Episodes
* Audiobook (666MB ZIP file)
A book which tells the previously untold story of schooling as not an altruistic enterprise of enlightened men to benefit their fellow man, but an effort by rich industrialist and eugenicists to preserve their power and influence by "Dumbing Down" their fellow man to the point at which he would willing accept a life of gloomy servitude in their factories. Gatto spent 9 years writing this book, after discovering primary sources, such as minutes of the industrialists' meetings, often painted a very different picture from that which later propaganda would have people believe.
Considering its huge size, the book is very readable. It is broken into hundreds of small sections, which mix historical record, interpretation and Gatto's personal experience to paint a compelling picture quite different from the traditional romantic image painted by the powers that be. In spite of selling over 500,000 copies based only on word of mouth recommendation (no advertising), its theme is so confronting that it has been largely ignored by the controlled media. Nevertheless, its reception has been very warm online, and it has been called a "superhuman effort of scholarship"<ref>http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/7/27/215225/986</ref>.
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