Vybarr Cregan-Reid is an
unlikely academic. Someone who knows what it's like to be written off, who left
school with no qualifications, who desperately needed a second chance. He also
understands better than anyone the power of literature to change a life.



From a turbulent start,
through a disastrous education, truancy and petty crime, to a distinguished
career as an English professor, We Are What We Read weaves Vybarr's own
unexpected life in books with a spirited history of the war on the humanities, uncovering
the profound impact that books have in shaping our reality at a time when their
value is under attack from governments around the world.



Part memoir, part manifesto,
part history, We Are What We Read is not just about how education can
place you back on the right side of the tracks. It is also a rallying cry for the
importance of literature in a world where the arts are being squeezed out at
every level and where book bans in schools and libraries have surged to record
highs. It's about the joys and the transformational power of reading and how
our brains are rewired by books, exploring how literature offers a vital means
of connection in a fractured world. Reading is not merely an escape - it's an essential
part of who we are.