Thornton begins by explaining the complex role of textbooks in American history education. Textbooks can be viewed as repositories of historical knowledge, a representation of expected learning, or as curriculum materials with intended educational consequences. From these roles emerge issues in areas such as social group representation, how and why textbooks are used, and the student’s educational experience given the type of information that textbooks include or exclude. Thornton argues that the educational significance of textbooks cannot be examined outside of the instructional encounters between teachers and students in which they are used. He thus sets about highlighting the nature of the study of history in American schools before specifically looking at textbooks.

In American education, history as an independent school subject is only found in the second half a student’s education, or the final six to seven years of schooling. Throughout schooling, however, it is typically found embedded in the social studies curriculum in subjects such as geography, economics, or current events. Thornton points out that one important goal of history education in the American context, regardless of where it is found, must be understood: it is not only for the development of the human person, but for the formation of citizens who understand, believe in, and are committed to core national values. Thus its purposes are often non-academic, economic or sociopolitical. Furthermore, there is a textbook adoption process that more than half of the states enforce, which also influences the type of history that students encounter in schools. The author illuminates the difference between history found in school textbooks and that found in textbooks of higher education by discussing the way in which history about Hiroshima is often presented to students in a one-sided and uncritical manner. Rather than engaging students in debating the validity of Truman’s reasoning in dropping the atomic bomb, students are taught about the necessity of his decision.

American history textbooks are typically arranged chronologically and present the political history of the American nation; this is a version of history that is centered on European American men. Thornton reports that increasingly advocates are calling for the curriculum to be rearranged altogether rather than treating alternative views of history as special interest topics that are simply tacked onto the curriculum. Studies often examine content included or missing from textbooks, but the author points out that this yields limited insight into how and in what depth topics are treated, and says nothing about how students engage with the material. Limited research has been devoted to the latter area, which Thornton suggests is perhaps more significant. The author closes by pointing to the centrality of the textbook in American education, and its resilience in providing a master narrative of unity and progress in spite of abundant historical research that has deconstructed this notion.