Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools

by Jonathan Zimmerman

What do America’s children learn about American history, American values, and human decency? Who decides? In this absorbing book, Jonathan Zimmerman tells the dramatic story of conflict, compromise, and more conflict over the teaching of history and morality in twentieth-century America.

In history, whose stories are told, and how? As Zimmerman reveals, multiculturalism began long ago. Starting in the 1920s, various immigrant groups―the Irish, the Germans, the Italians, even the newly arrived Eastern European Jews―urged school systems and textbook publishers to include their stories in the teaching of American history. The civil rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s brought similar criticism of the white version of American history, and in the end, textbooks and curricula have offered a more inclusive account of American progress in freedom and justice.

But moral and religious education, Zimmerman argues, will remain on much thornier ground. In battles over school prayer or sex education, each side argues from such deeply held beliefs that they rarely understand one another’s reasoning, let alone find a middle ground for compromise. Here there have been no resolutions to calm the teaching of history. All the same, Zimmerman argues, the strong American tradition of pluralism has softened the edges of the most rigorous moral and religious absolutism.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Sociology

318 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2002

About the author

Jonathan Zimmerman is professor of education and history, New York University. His previous books include Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century and Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools. He lives in Narberth, PA.

Reviews

[Rachael Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for a book review assignment, but was honestly an interesting book. As expected, the section on 21st century culture wars was the most interesting to me and I’m so glad I chose to read that version. I appreciated the discussion over the 1619 project since I’ve read a lot about it as a college student. I was fascinated by the controversy over the revised APUSH curriculum in the mid 2010s. It’s crazy to think that a course I vividly remember was highly controversial only a few years before I was enrolled. I learned things I never knew about the history of contested history in schools. I learned to skim to get to the author’s main points, but felt it was an enriching discussion that is very relevant to my current coursework, social life, and career.

[Gillian Mertens · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating analysis of 20th century controversies regarding social studies and religious education in American public schools.

An absolute most-read for History educators, school administrators, or anyone interested in uncovering the nuances of how history textbooks manifested and reinforced the "American narrative" of equality, prosperity, and exceptionalism (and the investment of various pluralistic groups in shaping their depiction in American history classrooms).

Additionally, this book contains a fascinating overview of religious education in America. Zimmerman's assessment of religious education begins in the 1940s, and provides copious examples to reinforce the varied positions, attitudes, allowances, and soapboxes of American denominalationists fighting for religious representation (or secularism) in public schooling.

I wish this book had explicitly connected various movements to larger American and global perspectives happening at the time; although Zimmerman draws a lot of attention to specific examples and chains of events, contextualizing participants and groups within a larger context of sociopolitical and economic realities may have led to a richer reading. However, this book is still remarkable without the added context; those who have a broad understanding of American culture during the 20th century can still enjoy and learn from this book.

All in all: this history is provocative, informative, and compelling, and belongs alongside Howard Zinn's "A People's History" on any critical History educator's bookshelf.

[Dhruva Reddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book - the subject matter is quite interesting (basically, a history of the influence of politics on the teaching of history in schools). However, I found it quite dry and ended up skimming most of it.

[DW Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly good history of battles about the teaching of history and religion in US public schools in the 20th Century, although it's now twenty years out of date. My main complaint was that the conclusion didn't seem to me to go anywhere particularly coherent.

[Annmarie Garcia Sheahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illuminating read for anyone interested in the history of American ed.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must read for any current social studies/history teacher out there...

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, although quite boring at times...