William "Rob" Roberts wasn't thinking about working as a professional educator, much less running a major school system, when he decided he'd had enough of formal schooling himself at age 19. Rather, he dreamed of big adventures, flying combat aircraft for the military. When he discovered the U.S. Army didn't insist on two years of…

Henry Barnard was "one of the men who revitalized the American common-school system", and as such, he is clearly worthy of a biography. Not only was his service a noted one to elementary education, but as college president and as the organizer of the United States Bureau of Education his activity also touched other parts of the country's…