Thirteenth Man: A Reagan Cabinet Memoir [Hardcover]

Terrel H. Bell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0029023513 | ISBN-13: 978-0029023518 | Publication Date: January 4, 1988 | Edition: 1St Edition

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Bell's successful fight to save the Department of Education has won him accolades from the nation's educators. Here he offers insight on Reagan's key players and a fresh perspective on the Reagan revolution.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bell, former secretary of education, describes with remarkable equanimity the precarious position of the Department of Education. As he tells it, his original exhilaration at being among the nation's decision makers began to fade early on for a variety of reasons: he learned that cabinet members dubbed his post "a bureaucratic joke"; he encountered hobbling budget restraints; and daily internecine struggles in the White House undermined his public stance of carrying out the president's election platform of educational reform. Bell presents the story behind the promulgation of "A Nation at Risk," the highly publicized report his department issued on the quality of American education, and on his ambiguous exit from the cabinet. In his report of his experiences serving in the Reagan administration, Bell, who now teaches at the University of Utah, provides an instructive glimpse into the political process.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Bell, former U.S. Secretary of Education, presents a fascinating inside look at the political realities and difficulties of assuring a continuing strong federal role for education. He focuses on the origins of the educational reform movement in 1983 with the Nation at Risk report (National Commission on Excellence in Education) and believes we are not educating our people to live effectively and competitively in the 21st century. He emphasizes education's direct bearing on the economic, political, and social well-being of the nation and its influence abroad, and provides great insight into the need for intelligent, skilled, and productive citizens. For academic and public libraries. Pat Wollter, Ruben Salazar Lib., Sonoma State Univ., Rohnert Park, Cal.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 195 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1St Edition edition (January 4, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029023513
• ISBN-13: 978-0029023518
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,998,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Inside Story on Influential Report "A Nation at Risk", January 1, 2001

By 

Hiromasa Sugiura (Okazaki, Aichi Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirteenth Man: A Reagan Cabinet Memoir (Hardcover)

President Reagan firmly believed in a small government. His belief is that education should be fundamentally a local concern. He was not in favor of the federal government's involvement in the local concern, education. The agony of the author, Secretary of Education, starts here.

At the appointment of the author as Secretary of Education, the Department of Education was soon to be abolished. He was on a boat he himself was expected to sink. I do not think he disagreed with President on the importance of the state and local autonomy of education. His concern, I understand, was that no one but President of the United States himself could alter the decline of educational achievement in public schools throughout the States. The well-grounded and effective report "A Nation at Risk" was successfully prepared to persuade President to initiate the nation-wide resolution to work for excellence in education.

The author loves and agrees with Reagan. As he keeps struggling to enhance the credibility of himself and the Department of Education, less-than-expected Presidential involvement in educational concerns starts to irritate the author. I felt like advising,"Take it easy. Why not talk about your concerns with other members of the cabinet over beer? You tend to be too serious sometimes."

This is a very good inside story in the production process and publication strategy of "A Nation at Risk" report. One of the weaknesses of this book as a Reagan Cabinet memoir is that the author was not able to provide relevant episodes significant enough to describe what Reagan cabinet was, because he was not on the best terms with major figures in the cabinet, most of whom he suspected were abolitionists of the Department of Education.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Book review, December 21, 2010

By 

clyde Maughan - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Thirteenth Man: A Reagan Cabinet Memoir (Hardcover)

Extremely self-serving and somewhat amateurish autobiography. Denigrated good people who helped his destitute widowed mother provide for her large family in order to build himself in importance.

A bureaucrat who accepted the position of Secretary of Education, a Department that President Reagan had committed to abolish, and then worked diligently to undercut the President and preserve this destructive Department.