Life in Dark Ages: A Memoir

This book turns into a wonderful memoir about the 1930s and 1940s, written with (I think) considerable warmth and humor. Anyone interested in schools and teaching should look at the sections dealing with Pawel's experiences in Belgrade (as a student), and North Africa (as a teacher, in a wildly improvised school). One caveat: the first chapter is - although well written - basically about death, and heavily depressing. Get past the meditations about illness, and you'll find that the story picks up.