I have read Gatto, Illich, and Holt, and I particularly love the books and writings of John Holt. He is one of the people whose writing is seemingly very simple, clear, almost plain… But the clarity of his writing makes it powerful, in my opinion. I met Holt once, long ago, before I had kids, and he was heroic in his humility and sincerity as one could ever hope for–this, in the face of all this adulation by home schoolers who had read his every word.