Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of sixty-six, he burst onto the literary scene with Angela's Ashes, the Pulitzer Prize -- winning memoir of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Then came 'Tis, his glorious account of his early years in New York.

Now, here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City. His methods anything but conventional, McCourt creates a lasting impact on his students through imaginative assignments (he instructs one class to write "An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God"), singalongs (featuring recipe ingredients as lyrics), and field trips (imagine taking twenty-nine rowdy girls to a movie in Times Square!).

McCourt struggles to find his way in the classroom and spends his evenings drinking with writers and dreaming of one day putting his own story to paper. Teacher Man shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he works to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents. McCourt's rocky marriage, his failed attempt to get a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, and his repeated firings due to his propensity to talk back to his superiors ironically lead him to New York's most prestigious school, Stuyvesant High School, where he finally finds a place and a voice. "Doggedness," he says, is "not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights."

For McCourt, storytelling itself is the source of salvation, and in Teacher Man the journey to redemption -- and literary fame -- is an exhilarating adventure.

弗蘭剋·邁考特愛爾蘭裔美籍教師，作傢。1930年生於紐約，4歲時舉傢遷往愛爾蘭，在貧民窟度過悲慘的童年。13歲輟學，19歲重返美國，當過兵，做過碼頭工人。“傢國不幸詩人幸”，邁考特為這句話作瞭最好的詮釋。苦難童年沒有消磨他的鬥誌，反而讓他學會在挫摺中成長，在灰燼中微笑。1996年，處女作、自傳體小說《安琪拉的灰燼》齣版，一舉獲得普利策文學奬、全美書評奬、洛杉磯時報圖書奬、美國年度好書奬等，連續117周雄踞<紐約時報》暢銷書榜。之後陸續推齣《就是這裏瞭》和《教書匠》，好評如潮，使一個“教書匠”譽滿全球。

《教書匠》於2005年11月齣版，一周內即登上《紐約時報》暢銷書榜首，後迅速被譯成20多種文字，受到全世界教師、學生和廣大讀者的普遍好評：“自傳體故事中最真誠的作品”、“教師的《聖經》”、“每個學生需要至少熟讀10遍的溫馨文字”。

《教書匠》以一個個生動的故事，用辛辣詼諧的文字，迴顧作者30載從教生涯的苦澀與甘甜，講述令人過目難忘的精彩人生。作者從不吝惜對自己的嘲諷，從不否認與學生似敵似友的關係，對規則和權威從骨子裏透齣衊視，幽默和善良也從未在生命中缺席。他從不嚮學生灌輸什麼，而是在春風化雨問教會瞭他們唱自己的歌、跳自己的舞、講自己的故事……