Neill of Summerhill: The Permanent Rebel - Softcover

Croall, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877224528 ISBN 13: 9780877224525

Publisher: Temple Univ Pr, 1987

Synopsis

A. S. Neill was arguably the most famous child educator of the twentieth century. He was certainly the most controversial. All over the world, countless parents and teachers have been shocked, delighted or inspired by his subversive ideas about education, or by a visit to ‘that dreadful school’ which continues to this day – Summerhill.

First published in 1983, this sympathetic but critical exploration of his iconoclastic ideas and personality is the result of interviews with two hundred ex-pupils, parents and teachers about life at Summerhill, and of the practicality of Neill’s philosophy about child freedom. Jonathan Croall has also drawn on many unpublished letters and documents, which help to illuminate Neill’s personal struggles, and his analysis and friendship with Homer Lane, Wilhelm Stekel and Wilhelm Reich. The result is a fascinating and revealing portrait of a remarkable man who, in his absolute determination to be ‘on the side of the child’, remained in permanent opposition to the adult world.

About this title

Review

"It’s a pleasure to welcome a biography which is frank about faults but aware of virtues, and is always cool, un-histrionic and unaffected ... I believe there’s a prize for the best biography of the year: Mr Croall should be a good runner" - Richard Hoggart, Times Educational Supplement, 1983

"This is an outstanding biography. Its balance of sympathy and detachment is just what is needed to enable us to understand the complex and contradictory nature of its subject" - John Rae, The Listener

"Croall’s research has been prodigious, his judgements are fair, and the whole work is a fascinating contribution to twentieth-century social history as well as educational practice and theory" - Nicholas Tucker, Tribune

"Anyone seriously concerned with children and education in the United States must read this book" - Herbert Kohl, author of 36 Children

"... full of marvellous insights and stories ..." - Colin Ward, New Society

"... impressive, monumental ..." - AL Morton, Morning Star

"... sympathetically built on hundreds of interviews and letters which almost universally speak of the extraordinary impact of the man ..." - Brian Jackson, Guardian

"A remarkably competent and interesting biography" - Anthony Storr, Sunday Times

About the Author

Jonathan Croall is the author of twenty books, including All the Best, Neill: Letters from Summerhill (1983) and The Parents’ Day Schoolbook (1978). A former features editor of the Times Educational Supplement, he is now a full-time writer and biographer specialising in theatre and film.

About this edition

• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0877224528
• ISBN 13: 9780877224525
• Binding: Paperback