Robert Martin Coles (born 1929) was a social psychiatrist, social critic, and humanist whose work was centered on the daily lives of those Americans--the poor, minorities, the elderly, and especially children--who confront an often oppressive society with dignity and resilience.

Robert Martin Coles was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 12, 1929. His parents, especially his father, an engineer, impressed upon him the importance of keen observation and commitment to a better social world, whatever one's professional career. He took his undergraduate degree at Harvard and his medical degree at Columbia University in 1954, with a specialization in child psychiatry. But as a young doctor he was not happy with conventional medical practice in Boston; it did not satisfy his deep interest in the humanities, in literature, in the intersection of the human spirit and the social order. Nor could it resolve his restless conflict: the desire to achieve and succeed and...