Customer Reviews

Schoolbook Nation: Conflicts over American History Textbooks from the Civil War to the Present

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School Book Nation is an important contribution to understanding the "history wars." Anyone who thinks that the teaching of history only became controversial in the last generation or two would be well-advised to read this work.

Moreau does more than discuss the history of history textbooks; he provides a thoughtful analysis of how textbooks have been written from historiographical and pedagogical perspectives. His research shows history controversies from the early American republic to the present day (and may depress those who think that textbook sales are free from base economic and political motives. Profit, it seems, trumps scholarly aloofness).

The result is an engaging story in its own right on how Americans have viewed and used textbooks over the years.

Both high school teachers and college professors (in particular those professors who teach future teachers) will benefit from School Book Nation. A good companion to That Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historical Profession (Ideas in Context) or History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray U.S. History.