{"product_id":"book-c3ti","title":"It Takes a School","description":"\u003cp\u003eA story of David and Goliath proportions, how an American hedge fund manager created a unique school in Somaliland whose students, against all odds, have come to achieve success beyond anyone's wildest dreams\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJonathan Starr is not your traditional do-gooder, and in 2009, when he decided to found Abaarso, a secondary school in Somaliland, the choice seemed crazy to even his closest friends. Why, they wondered, would he turn down a life of relative luxury to relocate to an armed compound in a breakaway region of the world's #1 failed state? To achieve his mission, Starr would have to overcome profound cultural differences, broken promises, and threats to his safety and that of his staff. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIt Takes a School\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of how an abstract vision became a transformative reality, as Starr set out to build a school in a place forgotten by the world. It is the story of a skeptical and clan-based society learning to give way to trust. And it is the story of the students themselves, including a boy from a family of nomads who took off on his own in search of an education and a girl who waged a hunger strike in order to convince her strict parents to send her to Abaarso.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbaarso has placed forty graduates and counting in American universities, from Harvard to MIT, and sends Somaliland a clear message: its children can compete with anyone in the world. Now the initial question Starr was asked demands another: \"If such a success can happen in an unrecognized breakaway region of Somalia, can it not happen anywhere?\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49294723744048,"sku":"BDc3ti","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49294723776816,"sku":"ZEc3ti","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49294723809584,"sku":"ZMc3ti","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/c3ti-Square-cover.jpg?v=1775817551","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-c3ti","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}