Linda Kantor Swerdlow writes with the passion of an educator who appreciates the value of intercultural learning and its relationship to youth activism. As the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Clinton Administration, I brought Operation Days Work (ODW) to America with the support of the Norwegian Government. Impressed by the overwhelming popularity of aid programs in Scandinavia, I had discovered that engaging students in work to raise money for real development programs had inculcated a lifetime commitment to poverty alleviation. This book is a moving account of the benefits to young people and to our globe of programs like ODW.

J. Brian Atwood, Senior Fellow, Watson Institute Brown University, Former Administrator, USAID

Being globally competent requires that students are able to take action and apply what they are learning to improve conditions both locally and globally. Linda Kantor Swerdlow’s timely book, Global Activism in an American School, studies a program that develops this agency as well as empathy in our students.

Heather Singmaster, Assistant Director, Education, Asia Society

Igniting a student’s voice can have both incredibly positive and impressive consequences. When this is combined with a call to civic action, communities can be transformed. In Mr. Adams’ class, room 109, this has happened time and time again to the benefit of the local and international community resulting in children’s lives being changed. In Global Activism in an American School: From Empathy to Action, Linda Kantor Swerdlow provides a detailed account of how this happens repeatedly.

Dan Gilbert, Principal, Broad Meadows Middle School

As the world confronts the greatest mass movement of people, including children, in history, Linda Kantor Swerdlow’s Global Activism in an American School: From Empathy to Action is both timely and a must read for all those concerned about the welfare of children and our basic humanity. The book is a compelling narrative about the challenge of ensuring all children have a right to education and a life of dignity. One cannot read this work and come away unchanged.

Christopher J. Campisano, Director, Princeton University Program in Teacher Preparation