This brief, interpretive history of American schooling focuses on the evolving relationship between education and social change. Detailed accounts of the experiences of women and minority groups in American history consider how their lives have been affected by education at key points in the past.

John L. Rury is Professor of Education and (by courtesy) History and African & African American Studies at the University of Kansas. A past president of the History of Education Society and vice president of the American Educational Research Association, he has also served as an editor of the American Educational Research Journal.

0. Introduction: History, Social Change, And Education 1. Colonial America: Religion, Inequality And Revolution 2. Emergence Of A Modern School System: The Nineteenth Century 3. Ethnicity, Gender, And Race: Contours Of Social Change In The 19th Century 4. Growth, Reform And Differentiation: The Progressive Era 5. Education, Equity And Social Policy: Postwar America To The 1970s 6. Globalization And Human Capital: From "A Nation At Risk" To Neo-Liberal Reform 7. Epilogue: Education And Social Change In Perspective