"In a landscape crowded with self-proclaimed education presidents and governors, this book should be required reading. Harold and Pamela Silver, the authors of numerous works on educational policy toward the disadvantaged, have produced a well-written account detailing U.S. and British debates on how education could address the poverty issue in each nation...this book is essential reading to anyone who wishes to better understand the successes and failures in Britain and the United States, if only to chart where we might go in the future." Social Science Quarterly

"The Silvers have written a marvelous book, recreating the tensions and aspirations of a generation of policy analysts and reformers in the two countries....if one wants to relook at the origins of the educational war on poverty, this is the place to start." Marvin Lazerson, Historical Studies in Education

"The book is in the finest tradition of comparative public policy research. It also serves as a reminder, to those of us who tend to concentrate on single-nation studies, how valuable such comparative studies can be....the volume is an extremely valuable resource that readers will return to on numerous occasions." John F. Witte, American Political Science Review