Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education looks at fifty of the twentieth century's most significant contributors to the debate on education. Among those included are:
* Pierre Bourdieu
* Elliot Eisner
* Hans J. Eysenck
* Michel Focault
* Henry Giroux
* Jurgen Habermas
* Susan Isaacs
* A.S. Neill
* Herbert Read
* Simone Weill.
Together with Fifty Major Thinkers on Education
this book provides a unique history of educational thinking. Each essay gives key biographical information, an outline of the individual's principal achievements and activities, an assessment of his or her impact and influence and a list of their major writings and suggested further reading.

Joy A. Palmer is Professor of Education and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Durham. She is Vice President of the National Association for Environmental Education, and a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.

Preface, Joy A. Palmer; A.S. Neill 1883-1973, Peter Hobson; Chapter 102 Susan Isaacs 1885-1948, Robert Hinshelwood; Chapter 103 Harold Rugg 1886-1960, Stephen J. Thornton; Chapter 104 Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889-1951, Nicholas C. Burbules, Michael Peters; Chapter 105 Martin Heidegger 1889-1976, Michael Bonnett; Chapter 106 Herbert Edward Read 1893-1968, Stephen Mark Dobbs; Chapter 107 Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky 1896-1934, Alexander Ardichvili; Chapter 108 Jean Piaget 1896-1980, Leslie Smith; Chapter 109 Michael Oakeshott 1901-92, Anthony O'Hear; Chapter 110 Carl Rogers 1902-87, Eleanor Feinberg, Walter Feinberg; Chapter 111 Ralph Winifred Tyler 1902-94, Elliot W. Eisner; Chapter 112 Burrhus Frederic Skinner 1904-90, Torsten Husén; Chapter 113 Harry Broudy 1905-98, Liora Bresler; Chapter 114 Simone Weil 1909-43, Richard Smith; Chapter 115 Joseph J. Schwab 1910-88, Ian Westbury, Margery D. Osborne; Chapter 116 Clark Kerr 1911-, Debra D. Bragg, Frankie S. Laanan; Chapter 117 Benjamin S. Bloom 1913-99, Torsten Husén; Chapter 118 Jerome S. Bruner 1915-, Howard Gardner; Chapter 119 Torsten Husén 1916-, T. Neville Postlethwaite; Chapter 120 Lee J. Cronbach 1916-, Torsten Husén; Chapter 121 Donald Thomas Campbell 1916-96, Carol Taylor Fitz-Gibbon; Chapter 122 Maxine Greene 1917-, Thompson Christine; Chapter 123 R.S. Peters 1919-, John White; Chapter 124 John I. Goodlad 1920-, Shen Jianping; Chapter 125 Paulo Freire 1921-97, Michael W. Apple, Luís Armando Gandin, Álvaro Moreira Hypolito; Chapter 126 Seymour B. Sarason 1919-, Andrew Hargreaves; Chapter 127 Israel Scheffler 1923-, Harvey Siegel; Chapter 128 Jean-François Lyotard 1924-98, Michalinos Zembylas; Chapter 129 Lawrence A. Cremin 1925-90, James D. Anderson; Chapter 130 Basil Bernstein 1925-2000, Ivor F. Goodson; Chapter 131 Michel Foucault 1926-84, Michael Peters; Chapter 132 Margaret Donaldson 1926-, Martin Hughes; Chapter 133 Ivan Illich 1926-, David A. Gabbard, Dana L. Stuchul; Chapter 134 Lawrence Kohlberg 1927-87, K. Peter Kuchinke; Chapter 135 Paul H. Hirst 1927-, Terence H. McLaughlin; Chapter 136 Philip Wesley Jackson 1928-, Elliot W. Eisner; Chapter 137 Jane Roland Martin 1929-, Susan Laird; Chapter 138 Nel Noddings 1929-, David J. Flinders; Chapter 139 Jürgen Habermas 1929-, Keith Morrison; Chapter 140 Carl Bereiter 1930-, David R. Olson; Chapter 141 Pierre Bourdieu 1930-, Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson, Thomas S. Popkewitz; Chapter 142 Neil Postman 1931-, Dan Inbar; Chapter 143 Theodore R. Sizer 1932-, Tamar Levin; Chapter 144 Elliot Eisner 1933-, P. Bruce Uhrmacher; Chapter 145 John White 1934-, Eamonn Callan; Chapter 146 Lee S. Shulman 1938-, Pam Grossman, Sam Wineburg; Chapter 147 Michael W. Apple 1942-, Carlos Antonio Torre; Chapter 148 Howard Gardner 1943-, Mindy L. Kornhaber; Chapter 149 Henry Giroux 1943-, Keith Morrison; Chapter 150 Linda Darling-Hammond 1951-, Ann Lieberman;