""This anthology is important for historians of education, but... it has a larger purpose. Public schools have 'remained a faithful barometer of the major economic, political and social changes that swept across the nation.' Social historians can learn much from this well-written anthology."" -- Journal of American History .."". a fine contribution to the history of public policy studies."" -- The Public Historian School reform activists sometimes forget that schools are a product of history, that many proposed reforms were tried before -- with mixed results. That understanding of the past is critical to our understanding of current efforts to improve schools. These original studies of school reform in Indiana, from before the Civil War to the most recent efforts, offer a much-needed perspective on the reoccurring struggle to remake the public schools in a new image.