In this chapter, Clark addresses the questions “what makes or made a textbook a textbook” and “why does the textbook warrant scholarly attention?” (p. 123).  Clark argues that defining a textbook simply by its classroom applications is insufficient. A more essential characteristic that sets the school textbook apart, she suggests, is “its relationship to the state” (p. 123). Because they are written in response to mandated curriculum outcomes, textbooks must adhere to specific pedagogical and content requirements that supersede the personal or corporate intentions of an author or publishing company. As such, textbooks hold special status as containers for official knowledge. They become “instruments of pedagogy” (p. 124), designed in a way that presents content through particular sequences or instructional techniques. While its influence may have diminished recently as the sole source of curriculum content, the textbook has historically been a major driver of teaching and learning.

Clark outlines three reasons for why textbooks merit scholarly focus. First, as textbooks are commonplace instructional tools, they reflect ongoing “cultural, ideological, political, economic and ethical debates” (p. 125). Second, their role as an economic commodity warrants examination, as textbook publication has proven a lucrative yet volatile enterprise for both American and Canadian publishers of Canadian content. Third, textbook production and selection has proven a contentious issue in provincial political arenas.

As the Canadian constitution assigns education as a provincial responsibility, publishers have faced additional challenges regarding economic viability and production. Throughout the twentieth century, Canadian publishers faced small provincial markets and the challenge of American competitors. Between 1885 and 1905, W.J. Gage, Copp Clark and the Canadian Publishing Company controlled textbook sales in English Canada. While other companies including the T. Eaton Company department store dabbled in the textbook market, Clark argues publishing textbooks “continued to be very profitable for publishers in Canada until the late 1960s” (p. 130). Then, with a shift in pedagogical direction under neo-progressivism of the 1970s, textbooks fell increasingly out of favour to a broader range of learning resources and a focus on less content-driven learning activities. This philosophical shift, accompanied by increasing manufacturing costs, new multimedia options and changes in government funding allocations, diminished the status and profitability of textbook divisions.

In addition to the economic debates around textbooks, their content has also been a significant issue for debate in English Canada. Questions have been raised about textbooks varying treatment and representations of Anglo-French history and culture, and First Nations figures such as Louis Riel. Such concerns prompted closer content analysis of social issues due to “the increasingly multicultural nature of Canadian society, the rise of feminism, and increased aboriginal activism” (p. 133) in the 1960s. Research studies such as Ontario’s 1971 Teaching Prejudice report, and Alberta’s 1981 Native People in the Curriculum found extensive factual errors and negative stereotyping of aboriginal peoples and various ethnic groups. Clark argues that, while there are still issues with textbook content, it has “improved since then” (p. 133).

Textbooks have been viewed as instruments of American intrusion into the Canadian education curriculum. Prior to the 1900s, most textbooks were produced by American authors or publishers. In response to the perception that American influence was too pervasive in forming understandings of Canadian identity, geography and political importance, the 1920s and 30s saw increased “Canadianization” of American textbook content, as well as original production from Canadian publishers. But nationalist concerns persisted as several small Canadian companies were subsumed into larger American firms in the 1960s. The 1980s and 1990s saw some success in regional and national textbook development and publication, through such firms as Douglas & McIntyre. However, today few Canadian firms remain.