**CANCELED** Cara Fitzpatrick at Harvard Book Store

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been canceled. 

Harvard Book Store welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist CARA FITZPATRICK to discuss her new book The Death of Public School: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America. She will be joined in conversation by JAMES DAO—editorial page editor of The Boston Globe.

About The Death of Public School

America has relied on public schools for 150 years, but the system is increasingly under attack. With declining enrollment and diminished trust in public education, policies that steer tax dollars into private schools have grown rapidly. To understand how we got here, The Death of Public School argues, we must look back at the turbulent history of school choice.

Cara Fitzpatrick uncovers the long journey of school choice, a story full of fascinating people and strange political alliances. She shows how school choice evolved from a segregationist tool in the South in the 1950s, to a policy embraced by advocates for educational equity in the North, to a conservative strategy for securing government funds for private schools in the twenty-first century. As a result, education is poised to become a private commodity rather than a universal good.

The Death of Public School presents the compelling history of the fiercest battle in the history of American education—one that already has changed the future of public schooling.

Praise for The Death of Public School

"Cara Fitzpatrick has written a remarkable book on the decades long battle over school choice. Deeply researched and beautifully written, this is a story of the calculating lawmakers and surprising political alliances who have redefined public education with profound implications for families, communities, and the nation. This is a must-read book for anyone who cares about the future of education in America." ―Matthew F. Delmont, author of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad

"The Death of Public School is history at its best, unfurling a remarkable, troubling tale. In chilling detail, Cara Fitzpatrick lays out how in plain sight the conservatives have worked to dismantle public education. In this recounting, Fitzpatrick has issued a clarion call, to renew our public commitment to providing an equitable and rigorous schooling for all." ―Alex Kotlowitz, author of An American Summer

"Cara Fitzpatrick has produced a crucial political history of the movement that, often quietly, has threatened the public nature of America's education system. The Death of Public School is timely, carefully researched, and critically important." ―Dana Goldstein, author of The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession

Mask Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.