The Sweet Spot

In this fascinating and, at times, hilarious account of an improbable career, Ronnie Landau, classicist and modern historian, takes the reader from his beginnings in a small Jewish community in north-east England, to his diverse experience of teaching and lecturing in radically different educational settings.

Whether it is his account of cutting his teeth in a rough-and-tumble north London comprehensive, being a visiting tutor in uber-posh Eton, running a massive department in Europe's largest adult education Institute, being visiting professor in a Canadian university, located in an exotic English castle, or enthusing about Greek civilisation aboard cruise ships, this book will inform, engage and entertain.

This memoir also tells of the author's struggles to write about what he sees as the most important, universal messages of the Holocaust, and the intimidating demands of getting his first book published.

Penetrating, thought-provoking and often irreverent, this rich assembly of ideas and observations will challenge the way we think about the worlds of education and identity, and of recent history itself.

"If you're very lucky, there will be two or three teachers over a lifetime who you can point to and say they shaped the way you see the world. For me, without hesitation, one of those is Ronnie Landau. Through him I learnt the modern history of the Jewish people, a knowledge which informs my thinking to this day. It was a privilege to be his student and it is a privilege to read his story."

- Jonathan Freedland, Guardian columnist, broadcaster and author