Hope Against Hope: Three Schools, One City, and the Struggle to Educate America’s Children

By Sarah Carr ’99. Bloomsbury Press, 2013. This narrative work of non-fiction follows three individuals: Geraldlynn, a high schooler who returns to her school in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina amidst her parents’ hopes of college for her; Aidan, a Harvard graduate hoping to bring change to New Orleans through education; and Mary Laurie, a veteran educator struggling to stabilize a school and a community. Together, these individuals’ stories paint a sobering portrait of the 21st-century American educational system.