The Teachers' Unions : How the NEA and AFT Sabotage Reform and Hold Students, Parents, Teachers, and Taxpayers Hostage to Bureaucracy

This cutting polemic against the two largest teacher unions in the United States--the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers--should rile every teacher who pays dues to either of them. Myron Lieberman's detailed exposé of the unions' massive political operations and influence is especially interesting. Lieberman estimates, for instance, that the NEA and AFT employ more full-time political staff than the Democratic and Republican parties combined. The best chapter focuses on the late Albert Shanker, long-time president of the AFT and one of the 20th century's great labor leaders. How Shanker rose to prominence as a tough union boss, stayed in power for more than two decades, and cleverly managed to win the admiration of many antilabor conservatives is a story of frightfully good political skills in action.