Roger Soder, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Washington, has worked for many years with community advocacy organizations and K-12 schools on equity and access issues in addition to his teaching, research, and writing on the interconnected issues of leadership, rhetoric, democracy, schools, and teacher education. He is the author of The Language of Leadership, editor of Democracy, Education, and the Schools, and co-editor of Developing Democratic Character in the Young.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter One: Political and Cultural Conditions Necessary for a Free SocietyChapter Two: Long-Term Perspective in a Free SocietyChapter Three: Leadership in and For a Free SocietyChapter Four: Citizens in and For a Free SocietyChapter Five: Schools and the Sustaining of a Free SocietyChapter Six: The Free Society: Reflections and DirectionsBibliographyAbout the Author

A master teacher here reaches out beyond the classroom to the broader public. Writing plainly and clearly he makes the case for an enlarged understanding of the conditions that make it possible to create and sustain a self-governing people. And then, best of all, drawing on his own understanding and long experience, he shows how those who yearn not to be led by the nose can recover, deserve, and sustain their status as thoughtful citizens. No lessons could be more timely.