“You get a sense that, if you asked Kay to swing at you, he’d take a few minutes to explain why he was going to swing at you with a full-knuckle fist, then do exactly that..We should be so fortunate, too.” — Jose Vilson “As teachers persevere in seeking out ways to engage an increasingly diverse student body and help students navigate an increasingly polarized culture and era, this book is a vital resource for creating dialogic classroom communities that impact students in meaningful and lasting ways.” — Amanda Rigell, University of Tennessee, Knoxville “Taking this book seriously – which it demands with its topical and pedagogical weight – requires acknowledging just how many less-than-ideal practices even the most well-intentioned English and social studies teachers (i.e., me and maybe you too) use to elicit intense discussions from their students.” - Sarah Cooper, Middleweb “As he says in the title, and in the introduction that explains it, we are past the point of shedding light on difficult topics — we need fire to make a change.” - Andrea Clark