Behind the Smokescreen is NOT politically correct This book is a bold celebration and critique of American public education, from the inside, by an author who has been there and done that, and lived to tell about it, so far. Bridges tells his own story, in his own words; polemically supporting public education as an ideal while vehemently challenging those who would undermine the institution. "We've been Trumped and DeVosed," says Bridges, of the current agenda to corporatize American public education.