DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Have Schools Influenced Social Change?

Education and Social Change: Themes in the History of American Schooling
By John L. Rury. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002. xii + 255 pp. Paper, $24.50.

In this volume John Rury investigates the interaction between schooling and social change from colonial times through the end of the 20th century. He combines descriptions of broad historical trends with detailed accounts of specific events and analysis of how the evolution of formal systems of education has influenced and been influenced by social change. Rury provides a concise description of the impact of social forces such as industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and cultural conflict on the development of American educational institutions.