This collection of seven essays was originally presented as part of a lecture series at McGill University in 2002 and recorded for CBC’s Ideas broadcast in both 2002 and 2003. According to editor Ruth Sandwell, this collection looks at the relationships between history research, public memory, and history education in Canada and ventures that reframing the relationship between these three concepts could improve the understanding we have of history, ourselves, and the nation. Many of the articles in this collection, such as Peter Seixas’ introductory essay, emphasize the role history education and collective memory has for informing citizenship and our “historical consciousness.” The authors want to move away from the simplistic “history war” over who and what should be part of the national canon taught in history class because, following Desmond Morton’s argument, a larger grand narrative won’t necessarily ensure a stronger and more patriotic country; and following Timothy Stanley’s argument, the national grand narrative is irreconcilable with the lived realities of racism and thus will never reflect the plurality of who and what are “Canadian.”

Furthermore, in their articles both Jocelyn Létourneau and Chad Gaffield emphasize that the nuances found in historical academic research are not currently being taught in public history education. Respectively, they emphasize that understanding what students already know when they come into class and finding space for them to problem solve and think of the personal in history education are important factors for moving history education away from rote and impractical learning. Following from this, Keith Barton maintains that having students analyse and reason with evidence using a humanistic framework of deliberation should be a cornerstone of history education in our pluralistic society. In the final article, which was requested to conclude the collection, Ken Osborne outlines that there have been three approaches to history education since the 19^th century: nation building, current problems, and disciplined inquiry. This collection is an attempt to move away from this triad to think about history education in more practical, grounded ways. Although all the authors frame the possibilities in history education slightly differently, their collective commitment for thinking about history education as a way to enrich collective memory and respond to current realities supported by the discipline of history ties the collection together.