This book examines what can be learned from veteran teachers who not only continue to teach but also manage to remain enthusiastic about it despite deprivation and challenges. Nine chapters are: (1) "Teaching as Evolution" (e.g., lessons learned along the way and the promise of multicultural education); (2) "Teaching as Autobiography" (teacher autobiographies and a response from the editor); (3) "Teaching as Love" (e.g. effective urban school teachers and respecting and affirming students' identities); (4) "Teaching as Hope and Possibility" (e.g., the promise of public education and faith in their own abilities as teachers); (5) "Teaching as Anger and Desperation" (e.g., bureaucratic restructuring and indignity at the lack of respect); (6) "Teaching as Intellectual Work" (e.g., the need for adult conversations and sustaining community in teaching); (7) "Teaching as Democratic Practice" (the struggle for equal education and racism in schools and society); (8) "Teaching as Shaping Futures" (the power of teachers' words and teachers changing lives forever); and (9) "Final Thoughts: What Keeps Teachers Going in Spite of Everything?" (lessons from teachers' work, rethinking professional development, restructuring schools, and developing new national priorities for teaching). (Contains approximately 150 references.) (SM)