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Cultural Wars and History Textbooks in Democratic Societies

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Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education

Abstract

Taylor and Macintyre examine the political character and contexts of history textbooks, taking in the colonialist/imperialist foundations of textbook design, more recent global attempts to use textbooks as agents of peace and reconciliation and yet more recent attempts to use textbooks as a source of justification for invasion and internal repression. Their chapter provides an overall summary and analysis of the development of history textbooks in democratic nations focusing on three culture wars case studies in Australia, the United States and the Russian Federation. The authors further explore the implications of digital technology for textbook design and dissemination. They conclude that in liberal democratic nations, the digitisation of textbook provision may reduce the traditional authority of the history textbook as the main source of historical interpretation in the school classroom.

Parts of this chapter are based on an Australian Research Council Project: Taylor, T. and Zajda, J. Australian Research Council Discovery Project 2011–2015 (DP110101320), ‘Globalising studies of the politics of history education: a comparative analysis of history national curriculum implementation in Russia and Australia’.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

    Tony Taylor

  2. School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Stuart Macintyre

Authors
  1. Tony Taylor
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  2. Stuart Macintyre
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Campus de Cantoblanco, Autónoma University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Mario Carretero

  2. Ruhr Universitat Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Stefan Berger

  3. Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Maria Grever

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Taylor, T., Macintyre, S. (2017). Cultural Wars and History Textbooks in Democratic Societies. In: Carretero, M., Berger, S., Grever, M. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52908-4_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52908-4_32

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52907-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52908-4

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