We Are What We Read : A Life Within and Without Books

Vybarr Cregan-Reid is anunlikely academic. Someone who knows what it's like to be written off, who leftschool with no qualifications, who desperately needed a second chance.He alsounderstands better than anyone the power of literature to change a life. From a turbulent start,through a disastrous education, truancy and petty crime, to a distinguishedcareer as an English professor, We Are What We Read weaves Vybarr's ownunexpected life in books with a spirited history of the war on the humanities, uncoveringthe profound impact that books have in shaping our reality at a time when theirvalue is under attack from governments around the world. Part memoir, part manifesto,part history, We Are What We Read is not just about how education canplace you back on the right side of the tracks.It is also a rallying cry for theimportance of literature in a world where the arts are being squeezed out atevery level and where book bans in schools and libraries have surged to recordhighs.It's about the joys and the transformational power of reading and howour brains are rewired by books, exploring how literature offers a vital meansof connection in a fractured world.Reading is not merely an escape - it's an essentialpart of who we are.