If you know the name Jonathon Kozol, then it is likely you were teaching at one point in your life, probably in an inner city.

And it’s also likely that you read some of his writing (Death at an Early Age, Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, Rachel and Her Children, The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, The Shame of the Nation, etc.) and were influenced to some degree by him.

I know I was.

Well, Kozol has a new book, Fire in the Ashes, Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in the Nation, due to be published next week, August 20, 2012.

The advanced information from the publisher states, “In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city children he has known for many years, Jonathon Kozol returns to the scene of his prize-winning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace, and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into adulthood.”

If you want to join me to hear Kozol speak (and probably sign books), I’ve got several extra tickets for this Politics & Prose sponsored even. The evening is Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 7 PM at Sidwell Friends Meeting House in Washington, DC on Wisconsin Ave., NW.

Email me (Samesty84@gmail.com) or call me (202-320-9501).

Update – Wed., Aug. 15, 2:45 PM – My available tickets for Kozol’s appearance have been claimed. You can get tickets through Politics & Prose Bookstore for $12 or if you buy the book ($27), you get two free tickets.

Update – Mon., Aug. 20 – For those of you smart enough not to live in the DC area, you can see/hear Kozol elsewhere as he’s on a book tour around the country.