Strike writes in a very personable tone, demonstrating his desire to engage with the reader. The text is not difficult to read, but it needs to be read deliberately and with reflection. To many of his questions, which the reader wishing not to be challenged may (incorrectly) take to be rhetorical, "generic answers will not serve" (p. 11). Even though his tone may seem light, his content and treatment definitely are not: Strike does not shy away from introducing relevant ideas and teachings of Socrates, René Descartes, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls, Thomas Kuhn, Alasdair MacIntyre, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Martha Nussbaum. Continuously conscious of his practitioner audience, though, Strike is careful not to bedizen his text with an overabundance of citations to or quotations from secondary sources. He does quote, however, from several primary sources, including the U.S. Constitution, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, court cases, school board policies, and A Nation at Risk (1983)—sources that should be familiar to all school principals and administrators. Throughout his book, he returns to fundamental (philosophical) questions of education, including, for example, "Who needs to know what, and for what reason?" (p. 26).