In this introduction, Sandwell provides an overview of how life evolved in various rural Canadian communities in the 20th century, and how rural conditions led to specialized educational practices. Despite the fact that many aspects of rural life were not recorded, she notes that educational historians have done an excellent job documenting these unique communities: “historians of education, with their focus on the relations and interactions amongst men, women, children, local societies and the emerging educational state, ‘have been well-suited to explore the complex contours of rural society, where the family, the land, a variety of waged occupations, and land-based economies combine to create cultures and economies that differ in some important ways’ from those of urban populations.” After summarizing the content of each of the pieces in the collection, she concludes by arguing for a renewed examination of rural communities: “A focus on rural places allows us to articulate the way that particular rural people saw themselves and each other, and to distinguish this from the way that rural people were understood, or misunderstood, ‘from the outside.’”