The Literature of Education: A Critical Bibliography 1945-1970

Original blurb: The volume of writing on educational topics has increased so prodigiously in recent years that the student is likely to lose himself in a sea of print. This may lead him to opt for the first book that comes to hand, or waste time rifling through half a dozen when a thorough grasp of one key text is all that is needed. Reading lists commonly look impressive, not to say daunting. In fact, the multifarious titles conceal an enormous amount of duplication, an endless raking over of other people’s research findings. ‘It is a safe bet’, writes W. Kenneth Richmond, ‘that less than 5 percent of the contents of any new book on education will be in any way original’.

This critical bibliography, originally published in 1972, is concerned with the noteworthy books and major official reports that had appeared in the English language during the twenty-five years prior to publication. In his introduction and in the commentaries prefacing each section the author explains the background to the genuinely new departures of the period and describes successive changes in the climate of educational opinion.