Through personal stories, each contributor to The Importance of Teaching Social Issues reveals the major concerns, tenets, and interests behind their own teaching and research, including the seminal experiences underlying their motivation to explore social issues vis-à-vis school curriculum. "Samuel Totten has assembled a who's who of educators in this compelling volume that will serve as a much-needed refresher on the core values and beliefs that examine the place of social issues in the extant curriculum. Readers will be affirmed, challenged and inspired by the pointed biographies and rhapsodic beliefs that eloquently echo John Dewey's famous refrain of 1897, 'I believe...". And in the true spirit of education worthy of its name, readers will be called to act, to teach by light of this elegant volume. This work is a great tribute to Dewey's deep legacy by his contemporary students." - William Gaudelli, Teachers College, Columbia University "We owe Samuel Totten and the contributors to The Importance of Teaching Social Issues a debt of gratitude. They bear witness and give voice to the need to understand children and pedagogy within a historical context of humane concerns and commitments. In an era of "big data," hot money, and "creative destruction," they challenge us to remember that data are not wisdom, profit is not success, and that real lives are being destroyed by our retreat from the ideal of a common good." - Alex Molnar, Research Professor, University of Colorado-Boulder