Centuries of tutoring : a history of alternative education in America and western Europe /

In an attempt to "investigate tutoring's widespread applications throughout the history of childhood in the Western world," the Gordons make excellent use of historical insight and primary sources to produce a very readable history and an interesting perspective on the development of schooling in general. The emphasis on the one-to-one nature of early education is enlightening, especially the account of how the act of tutoring others helped shape the educational philosophy of some of history's greatest thinkers. Phillippe Aries (Centuries of Childhood, 1962) and H.J. Marrou (A History of Education in Antiquity, 1956) have covered much of this territory more thoroughly, but the Gordons' work is more accesible to the undergraduate, and its scope-- 1500 BCE to the present--provides a broader perspective than many "period-specific" books. There are several mistakes in citations and in other editorial aspects, but these seem to be due more to the publishing process than to the authors and should not distract from the well-written text and superb reference material in the appendixes and source list. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate students. R. A. Breault Black Hills State College