This is, quite simply, one of the landmark books in the history of education. Written by influential Italian educator Maria Montessori (1870 1952), it describes a new system for educating young children based on materials and methods she originally developed to teach retarded students. The techniques proved highly effective with normal children as well. Her system, based on a radical conception of liberty for the pupil and a highly formal training of separate sensory, motor, and mental capacities, led to rapid and substantial mastery of reading, writing, and arithmetic. In "The Montessori...

Keen observations and a graphic style characterize the author's remarkable record of a vanishing frontier. Detailed accounts of the hardships experienced while traveling across mountains and prairies; vibrant portraits of emigrants and Western wildlife; and vivid descriptions of Indian life and culture. A classic of American frontier literature.