Reese, William J. America’s Public Schools: From the Common School to "No Child Left Behind.” Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2011.

== Summary ==
This
book synthesizes a range of secondary books on American education history and examines
two related phenomena: the persistent attempts to reform society through
schools, and the ongoing battles within schools to alter their organization,
curriculum teaching practices, and purposes. Reese argues that schooling has
always been the battleground for shaping society. Americans have agreed that
schooling and education should be a tool to improve society; yet, they have
rarely agreed on how.