Paul Tough at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes PAUL TOUGH, the bestselling author of How Children Succeed, for a discussion of his latest book, The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us. He will be joined in conversation by professor ANTHONY ABRAHAM JACK, author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students. This event is co-sponsored by OneGoal Massachusetts.

About The Years That Matter Most

Does college still work? Is the system designed just to protect the privileged and leave everyone else behind? Or can a college education today provide real opportunity to young Americans seeking to improve their station in life?

The Years That Matter Most tells the stories of students trying to find their way, with hope, joy, and frustration, through the application process and into college. Drawing on new research, the book reveals how the landscape of higher education has shifted in recent decades and exposes the hidden truths of how the system works and whom it works for. And it introduces us to the people who really make higher education go: admissions directors trying to balance the class and balance the budget, College Board officials scrambling to defend the SAT in the face of mounting evidence that it favors the wealthy, researchers working to unlock the mysteries of the college-student brain, and educators trying to transform potential dropouts into successful graduates.

With insight, humor, and passion, Paul Tough takes readers on a journey from Ivy League seminar rooms to community college welding shops, from giant public flagship universities to tiny experimental storefront colleges. Whether you are facing your own decision about college or simply care about the American promise of social mobility, The Years That Matter Most will change the way you think—not just about higher education, but about the nation itself.

Praise for The Years That Matter Most

“Indelible and extraordinary, a powerful reckoning with just how far we’ve allowed reality to drift from our ideals.” —Tara Westover, author of Educated: A Memoir, New York Times Book Review

“Gorgeously reported. Vividly written. Utterly lucid. Paul Tough jumps skillfully between deeply engaging personal narratives and the bigger truths of higher education. The way he tells the stories of these students, it’s impossible not to care about them and get angry on their behalf.” —Ira Glass, host, This American Life

“Paul Tough’s daring The Years That Matter Most forces us to unfold the suffering built into the creases of American higher education. It refuses to let us forget about the bodies and lives of real students. It should be necessary reading for every student, professor, administrator, and trustee in this country interested in what radical revision looks like.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir