Ran­di Wein­garten is among the last lines of defense for Amer­i­can pub­lic edu­ca­tion. For decades, she has sound­ed the alarm that attacks on teach­ers are part of a larg­er, dark­er agen­da — to under­mine democ­ra­cy, oppor­tu­ni­ty, and pub­lic edu­ca­tion as we know it. After the Trump admin­is­tra­tion declared its inten­tion to dis­man­tle the Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion, that alarm became unde­ni­able. This book tells the sto­ry of what teach­ers do and why those who are afraid of free­dom and oppor­tu­ni­ty try to stop them. It explains why all Amer­i­cans should care about attacks on schools and teach­ers — whether they have school-aged chil­dren or not. Draw­ing on his­to­ry, sto­ries from teach­ers on the front lines, and decades of expe­ri­ence with America’s pub­lic schools, Wein­garten argues that teach­ing stu­dents to think crit­i­cal­ly is the key to defeat­ing would-be dic­ta­tors. She encour­ages teach­ers to con­tin­ue focus­ing on their vital mis­sion to help young peo­ple thrive — cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty in safe and wel­com­ing class­rooms, pro­mot­ing tol­er­ance, and teach­ing prob­lem solv­ing, crit­i­cal think­ing, and healthy debate. She cau­tions against cen­sor­ship and com­pla­cen­cy, look­ing to the past to warn us all about what can hap­pen if we deval­ue teach­ers and pub­lic schools.