Reviews for Whose America?

The average rating for Whose America? based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-13 00:00:00 Shane Brule 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.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-11-27 00:00:00 Daniel Knowles Very informative, although quite boring at times...