"For thirty-four years, from 1962 to 1996, the Open Court Publishing Company sold elementary math and reading textbooks that tried to combat the culture and bring about real school reform. Stories from the company's struggles help make this culture visible." "In Let's Kill Dick and Jane, Harold Henderson gives a historical, yet personal, portrait from the company's beginnings through all the financial and cultural travails and its sale in 1996 to McGraw-Hill. It shows how a company of idealistic pragmatists can (...) chip away at the edifice of mediocrity that has become American education."--BOOK JACKET. (shrink)