Happiness, hope, and despair: Rethinking the role of education

Abstract

Peter Roberts’ new book is the latest of his contributions aiming to provide alternatives to what he regards as conventional beliefs and attitudes in education. As its title shows, he is not afraid to take on big ideas. In this book, he approaches them through the work of some major literary figures. Six writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries receive individual attention: Søren Kierkegaard, Miguel de Unamuno, Simone Weil, Paulo Freire, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Hermann Hesse.