Personally, I didn't read the book. I did watch the entire series aired on Public Television. I also attempted to purchase that video series, but those tapes are not available (...). At least, not as of 12/01.
I found the series very interesting, well balanced and documented. Yes, had a different group of folks put something together on this topic ... the presentation and content would have differed. Thus is the nature of any historical presentation, especially when it does not involve first-hand observation and experience. Lacking that, researchers are limited to their interpretations of the available evidence. I did not detect a significant bias in the presentation of any of the material (but then I do not consider myself to be an expert in the subject either!).
While the book may be a mirror image companion to the TV presentation, such is the nature of many of the current TV documentary/book combos. I don't have a problem with that, and I don't have an emotional axe to grind concerning this subject.
I completely enjoyed the video series and would purchase the book ... if I really believed I would ever have the time to read it (...) ;-)
This book has several strong points:
1) It's written is a succinct prose style. This isn't necessarily a boon to education majors, but it's a good thing for the general public. It's hard to make education sound interesting, and this book does a pretty good job. As a special sidelight, this book will interest thinking people inside the school system. It may even be picked up by teenagers, those currently most ensconced in the U.S. system of public education.
2) It is one of the only books available to non-professionals. It's fairly easy to get information, dates, a rundown of the major players in educational theory/movements, and an idea about what those involved in the educational system thought about their schools at the time. It isn't one stop shopping, but it is a good start.
3)The accompanying photographs are marvelous. Nothing illustrates the crowding of the tenement schools, he desperate situation of child laborers in the early part of the 20th century, or the inclusion protests of the 1960's and 1970's quite like the pictures.
4) It is possible to read between the lines. Although the book doesn't explicitly link ideas like the push from German Immigrants to get their children out of the "shop" track and into college prep. and the current debates about bilingual education, a reasonable person is able to gather enough information to make that leap given the information in this book.
The books limits include:
1)Pollyanna does live here. The underlying message is that the public school system is a miraculous thing, and that if left alone will be able to solve any crisis it encounters. There isn't any criticism of this idea, but "a critical history" never appears in the write up.
2)Nobody wants to win one for the Gipper. After 1980 the book is biased against the "bottom line, business oriented" approach heralded in with "A Nation at Risk." This is where I was most disappointed in this book. I'm not looking for that kind of bias in my reference books, and it is undeniably there.
Final analysis:
Buy this book for your middle school and high school library. Let your home schooler read it with other texts. Do not base your Ph.D. in educational theory on this text. Try to use it with other articles critical of public education or positive about home schooling, charter schools, or vouchers. And, as always, please think about what you read.