For more than four decades, Henry A. Giroux, a pioneering educator and the most influential representative of critical pedagogy, has worked to elevate it as a political, ethical, and cultural theory and practice.

In his vivid book, with passion and ingenuity, he discusses the role that critical pedagogy plays both in education and in the educational impact of culture:

(a) He focuses on the significance of critical pedagogy for the theory and practice of education, as well as for the broader realm of culture.

(b) He analyzes empiricism in teaching, emphasizing the dominance of positivism.

(c) He studies the dominant economic, social, political, and cultural forces that hinder the endeavor to establish an education aimed at shaping critical, informed, and active citizens.

(d) He describes the efforts of interests that are put in the service of neoliberal and neoconservative policies to downgrade education both as an enterprise that trains and students as consumers of its services.

(e) He refers to the legacy of Paulo Freire and examines issues of fundamental interest to educators, democratic citizens, and public intellectuals, who are inspired by the vision of a radical democracy.

(f) He highlights and participates in the struggle of critical pedagogy against the far right and fascism.