Rachel D. Hutchins is Associate Professor of American Civilization at the University of Lorraine, France.

France and the United States have in particular experienced demographic and cultural shifts since the 1960s that have resulted in intense debates over national identity. This volume examines how each country's national history is represented in primary schools' social studies textbooks and curricula, and how they handle contemporary issues of ethnicity, diversity, gender, and patriotism. By analyzing each country separately and comparatively, it demonstrates how various groups (including academics, politicians and citizen activists) have influenced education, and how the process of writing and rewriting history perpetuates a nation.

Introduction Part I: Faces of the Nation 1. Ethnicity and the Nation 2. Gender and the Nation 3. Class and the Nation Part II: Symbols of the Nation 4. National Symbols and Values 5. National Heroes 6. National Territory Conclusion