Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos delivers blunt insights about her fight for conservative reforms in America’s schools after being vilified by the teachers unions, media and Democrats.
 
As students and parents grapple with the long-term effects of the unprecedented coronavirus shutdowns, DeVos establishes herself as a leader in the new battle in the classroom: the intrusion into curriculum by activists seeking to reappraise American history and pursue a liberal social agenda.

Few people have been immersed in these issues and these battles as long as DeVos. Long before she was tapped by President Trump to serve as secretary of education, DeVos established herself as one of the country’s most influential advocates for school choice and charter schools. And she has stories to tell: DeVos received so many credible threats against her life that she became the first Education Secretary in history to be assigned security provided by U.S. Marshals.

In Hostages to the Cause, DeVos unleashes her candid thoughts about working in the Trump administration, recounts her battles over the decades to put students first, hits back at “woke” curricula in our schools and describes why the fight for the future of the American child is so vital and important to the future of the country.

Betsy DeVos is a leader, an innovator, a disruptor, and a champion for freedom. She is the nation’s leading advocate for education freedom for students of all ages, having served as the 11th U.S. Secretary of Education from 2017-2021. Betsy advocates for free people, free markets, free exchange of ideas, and most notably, freedom in education. As a champion for school choice and multiple education options for all students after high school, she believes in the unique potential of every student and that there is no one-size-fits-all pathway to success. For more than three decades, she has been tireless in her pursuit of public policy reforms that get government out of the way and allow all students the freedom, flexibility, resources and support they need to choose where, when and how they learn. Her advocacy has led to the creation of new educational choices for K-12 students in more than 25 states and the District of Columbia and expanded post-high school education options for students and adult learners alike. 

DeVos is also an accomplished business leader. She served as Chairman of The Windquest Group, a privately held investment and management firm based in Michigan with a diversified consumer product and service portfolio. She is the former chair of the American Federation for Children, The Philanthropy Roundtable, and the Michigan Republican Party, and has served on a number of other national boards, including the Kennedy Center and the American Enterprise Institute. DeVos is a graduate of Calvin College and is married to entrepreneur, philanthropist and community activist Dick DeVos. Together, they have four children and eight grandchildren.