Best known for his paean to self-sufficiency, , which became a bestseller that called "an underground bible for the city-weary," Scott Nearing was also a high-profile public advocate for education reform at the start of the Progressive era. Lamenting that public schools had failed to keep up with societal changes, Nearing traveled the country during the early decades of the twentieth century, documenting schools that had abandoned a traditional authoritarian stance in favor of child-centered practice. Now the vignettes, interviews, and speculations on school restructuring, curriculum development, and educational reform that he offered in a century ago are relevant once again.