Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America - Softcover

Geoffrey Canada created the Harlem Children's Zone, a 97-block laboratory in central Harlem, to help change the lives of poor children. Tough presents an inspired portrait of Canada and the parents and children who are struggling to better their lives, often against great odds.

"As Paul Tough shows, Canada is a man...who knows what it takes to ensure that every child has a fair shot in life."--Bill Clinton

"Paul Tough shows, from the inside, how the nation's most important work gets done." - Adrian Nicole Leblanc

"Powerful and hopeful, disturbing and daring, it's one important book. Essential even."--Alex Kotlowitz

"Paul Tough takes on one of the biggest questions going: how do you teach people to be successful?"--Stephen Dubner

"[A] moving account of . . . giving Harlem's children access to the same dreams as children in New York's most privileged neighborhoods."--Marian Wright Edelman

"[E]asily the most compelling and potentially the most important book on the problem of poverty in urban America in years."--Michael Pollan

"[A] must-read for any American committed to solving our nation's greatest social injustice"--Wendy Kopp, Teach for America

"The question of whether these terribly disadvantaged kids will fail or succeed takes on all the nail-biting urgency of any high-stakes, novelistic thriller." --Elizabeth Gilbert

"[This] account of this visionary man in Harlem changed my understanding of poverty in America it ...made me feel hopeful."--Ira Glass

" [T]his book gives readers a solid look at the problems facing poor communities and their reformers, as well as good cause to be optimistic about the future."

Publishers Weekly

"Outstanding literary nonfiction, distinguished by in-depth reporting, compelling writing and deep thinking." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"A remarkable book ... a story more gripping and inspiring than you'd imagine social policy could possibly be." Gentleman's Quarterly

"This unflinching book will motivate us all to take action and make our schools places of possibility and hope."--Essence

"This is an engrossing look at a visionary man and a bold experiment" Booklist, ALA, Starred Review