The burden of bad ideas

"In closely reported stories from the streets of New York to the seats of intellectual power, Ms. Mac Donald shows how bad ideas get started and then acquire a life of their own. Her reports trace the transformation of influential opinion-makers (such as the New York Times) and large philanthropic foundations from confident advocates of individual responsibility, opportunity, and learning into apologists for the welfare state.

The prevailing orthodoxy of ideas, she finds, has affected our law schools, our schools of education, our museums, even our schools of public health - with ruinous consequences for the teaching of our children."--BOOK JACKET.