In Pedagogy of Freedom Paulo Freire travels ever more deeply into the territory where learning and activism are the essence of human life. This profound new book shows why an engaged way of learning and teaching is central to the creation of the individual, culture, and history. Freire finds in today's emerging global society a new context in which education cannot be indifferent to the reproduction of dominant ideologies and the interrogation of them. He argues against 'progressive' liberalism and its passive acceptance of a world where unemployment and hunger must inevitably co-exist with opulence. In so doing, he shows why an acceptance of fatalism leads to loss of personal and societal freedom_and how those individuals who think without optimism have lost their place in history. This book displays the striking creativity and profound insight that characterized Freire's work to the very end of his life_an uplifting and provocative exploration not only for educators, but for all who learn and live.

"At the threshold of the twenty-first century, we face the need to learn a new and more communicative way of constructing educational theory. With Pedagogy of Freedom, Freire contributes a unique guide to such a mission. . . . While social sciences are witnessing the revival of the idea of deliberative democracy (Elster, 1988), as well as the possibility of transforming social positions through dialogue (Giddens, 1994), we now have a book that discusses how to develop such dialogic democracy in education. In Pedagogy of Freedom, Freire defends a universal human ethic that extends not only to schools but also to teachers' training." - Harvard Educational Review

"This book is a repository of Freire's wisdom, the wisdom that informs his philosophy of education and his educational approach. . . . I would recommend this one as very important." - Studies In The Education Of Adults

"Pedagogy of Freedom is almost an elegy. In looping around themes that have run through his work, Freire's book is a reminder of his fundamentally optimistic vision of the radical possibilities for education." - College English

"Paulo Freire is one of the ideological giants. . . . In this book, Freire remains passionately idealistic and inspirational, without denying the complexity of the work or the difficulty of creating real change. It is one of the rare tomes to which one can return again and again..." - What On Earth