The book is accessible as it relates the stories of ten alternative schools, each with its own methodology. The ten are bound by their founders’ dislike and distrust of public schools. At least one chapter is devoted to each school, and all follow the same basic pattern of reviewing the school’s origins, curriculum, management, and relationship to the larger community. The chapters end with an autopsy of each school’s decline. In the process, they reveal several common factors: the idealism of the schools’ founders often outweighed practical considerations, making them vulnerable to internal disagreements over how much academic and personal freedom to provide students and resulting in financial strain.