We need a rich account of good teaching, not just the classroom variety but the activity that is part of our everyday relationships. If we do not develop that account now, Schwehn fears we will lose our capacity to fully understand teaching and learning and their historical and human importance.

To meet that need, Schwehn has wisely chosen to focus our attention on great teachers in the act of teaching and on their students in the act of learning. He challenges us, based on those images and the ideas they generate, to question our assumptions about ourselves and others as everyday teachers and learners, and about our methods and purposes both inside and outside the classroom.

The reader can explore an impressive array of texts and teachers, including Socrates, St. Augustine, the Old and New Testaments, Lincoln, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, and James Joyce. Schwehn also includes excerpts from the Desert Fathers and Hassidic Masters. All the texts open our eyes to a wider and deeper view of teaching and learning.