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Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory (Icons of America) Paperback – March 3, 2015

by Jonathan Zimmerman (Author)

2 customer reviews

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The little red schoolhouse has all but disappeared in the United States, but its importance in national memory remains unshakable. This engaging book examines the history of the one-room school and how successive generations of Americans have remembered―and just as often misremembered―this powerful national icon.

Drawing on a rich range of sources, from firsthand accounts to poems, songs, and films, Jonathan Zimmerman traces the evolution of attitudes toward the little red schoolhouse from the late nineteenth century to the present day. At times it was celebrated as a symbol of lost rural virtues or America’s democratic heritage; at others it was denounced as the epitome of inefficiency and substandard academics. And because the one-room school has been a useful emblem for liberal, conservative, and other agendas, the truth of its history has sometimes been stretched. Yet the idyllic image of the schoolhouse still unites Americans. For more than a century, it has embodied the nation’s best aspirations and―especially―its continuing faith in education itself.

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Editorial Reviews

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Received a Special Citation for the 2010 Book Awards, given by the Colonial Dames of America "A remarkable history of one room schools and about their place in our collective memory."-John L. Rury, University of Kansas "This beautifully written book makes a unique and original contribution not only to the history of American education, specifically, but to American social history, writ large."-Jeffrey Mirel, University of Michigan "One of America's most thoughtful historians, Jonathan Zimmerman is also one of the most innovative, as he shows in this remarkable new study of a universally recognized but-until now-incompletely understood educational icon. Thoroughly researched and crisply written, Zimmerman's account of the little red schoolhouse's past, actual and remembered, is authoritative, nuanced, and full of surprises. Small Wonder makes a big contribution to the interpretation of American culture."-Charles Lane, author of The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, The Supreme Court and The Betrayal of Reconstruction "Readers will enjoy this unique look at how the little red schoolhouse came to be our foremost symbol of education. Each chapter is filled with thought provoking perspectives and information."-Mark Dewalt, author of Amish Education in the United States and Canada "By focusing on the little red schoolhouse, Jonathan Zimmerman leads the reader on a fascinating journey through the real and imagined American past. Much more than a study of schooling and its hallowed symbol, this book is a rich, instructive, and often entertaining opening onto American culture, the politics of culture, and our educational values over the past one hundred and fifty years."-Paula S. Fass, author of Children of a New World and Margaret Byrne Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley

About the Author

Jonathan Zimmerman is professor of education and history, New York University. His previous books include Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century and Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools. He lives in Narberth, PA.

Series: Icons of America
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press; Reprint edition (March 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 030021510X
ISBN-13: 978-0300215106
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,049,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5133 in Books > Education & Teaching > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > History
- #8237 in Books > Education & Teaching > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Administration
- #179324 in Books > History > Americas > United States

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Richard S. Dixon Jr.

A great history of an importan icon

October 5, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is a great account of the image of the "little red schoolhouse" in all its permutations throughout American history. One of the lessons of this book, I think, is not so much about the status of education in America, but rather it is more an observation of how important, iconic landmarks of American life get tossed and turned and used by both sides of any argument about America. For anyone interested in American iconography as well as education, this book is a great, short and quick read.

I would also like to praise the series in which this book appears. The Yale series, "Icons of America," is filled with fascinating topics that inform our history. I read the work on Joe DiMaggio (although I never really liked the guy) and thought it was a wonderful meditation on the Yankee Clipper and made me understand him just a bit better. This book on the little red schoolhouse has a similar mission; it is a fine book from an even finer series. I recommend both the book and the "Icons of America" series from which it springs.

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A Nostalgic Trip Back in a Time that Maybe Never Existed!

April 12, 2010

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is wonderful novella 0f 233 pp with large type and small pages which can easily be read in two evenings. The author goes to great length to discuss the nostalgic elements and separate them from the realities of what came to be known as the little red school house although only about 2% were ever really painted red, with the vast majority being white or light gray, and many built of logs, sod, adobe, and planks that were NEVER painted at all. This book should appeal to any who might be of demographic old enough to remember such a structure to those lighthearted enough to want to believe in its virtues, whether real or imagined. It is very easy to read and it is obvious the author is well versed in the subject. Just buy it and expect to spend a couple of fun filled evenings enjoying it.

5 people found this helpful