Book Review: Making Schools American: Nationalism and the Origin of Modern Educational Politics
Ewert not only depicts the origins and aims of the public school system as a tool for national unity in the United States, but he also successfully foregrounds how the inherent struggle for a definition of America and Americanness in a country marked by racial and ideological tensions shaped the educational system and continues to do so. As such, Ewert’s book is a useful source when reading and researching about the history of the American school system as well as the nature of the forces at work in the national and local societies that shaped it.