Beginning by investigating the origins of history as a subject of study in schools, Davis continues by exploring history education in Ontario schools from 1900 onwards. His purpose is to understand why the Ontario government reduced history from its status as a core subject in 1960 to being a minor option in the 1990s, focusing on changes in how history teaching was conceived. He argues large shifts in thinking caused by post-WWII economics led to five broad challenges to history education that precipitated its decline. He identifies these challenges as follows: (1) the increased erosion of Canadian independence since 1970; (2) the decline of faith in historical progress; (3) the challenge from groups opposing the white, bourgeois, male, Eurocentric view; (4) loyalty via TV, by which he suggests that television creates loyalty to capitalism and democracy, thus negating the need for schools to teach it; and (5) the global restructuring of capitalism, both in terms of the content of history courses, and the shift in focus from content to skills development.

Davis fleshes out his argument over the course of nine chapters divided into three sections. The first section deals with history education from WWII to the present day (1995), in which he develops his argument about the reasons for history’s decline in schools. In the second section he illustrates his argument by examining three incarnations of a magazine for history teachers in Ontario, arguing that they “provide an ideal mirror” of the changes in history education in the province (82). In the third and final section, he explores the present state (mid-1990s) of history education in the province, and provides speculation towards future trends.