Book excerpt: What is it really like to be a teacher today? Teaching--The Imperiled Profession goes beyond conventional analyses, to probe the profession and various threats to its viability. Daniel L. Duke has drawn on his own and current educational research--including surveys of teacher opinion, interviews with teachers, and press coverage of educational issues--to uncover and examine a complex array of factors that contribute to the troubled state of the profession and the unprecedented discouragement of its practitioners. The book also analyzes traditional sources of support. Teaching--The Imperiled Profession provides prospective teachers with a realistic picture of the profession today. It identifies a set of concerns on which citizens might reasonably focus attention, in order to forestall any future deterioration. It provides the educator, administrator, and policy-maker with a comprehensive set of recommendations for revitalizing the profession. The book also serves as a concise history of the teaching profession as it has developed in the United States during the twentieth century.