There was little in Martha Berry's upbringing to indicate that she would give up a life of ease and luxury to satisfy the hunger for knowledge of the mountain children of North Georgia. Unable to turn her back on human need, she struggled to establish the now famous Berry schools, founded on her theory that work experience must be an integral part of learning.

There was little reason for anyone to suppose that this pretty, vivacious girl would be anything more than a charming Southern belle. But her father had taught her well, instilling in her a sense of responsibility for those less fortunate than herself. She became increasingly involved with the welfare of the people of the north Georgia highlands. Mainly illiterate, afflicted with disease and want, they barely eked out a living from the barren soil.

Yet what could one woman do? The answer was soon apparent. The response of the children to her first tentative attempts at teaching showed her how desperate were their needs—and thus Martha Berry's dream was born.

The road that lay between her first primitive school and the Martha Berry schools of today was filled with over 40 years of trial and near disaster, in which she battled tradition, financial crisis and natural disaster.

This is the story of a remarkable woman of extraordinary determination and energy. Her struggle to give opportunity to those she called "my thousands of children" brought her world acclaim. The Berry Schools are the living legacy she left to the region she so deeply loved.

From the dust jacket