The teacher wars: a history of America's most embattled profession

"Missionary teachers" : the common schools movement and the feminization of American teaching

"Repressed indignation" : the feminist challenge to American education

"No shirking, no skulking" : Black teachers and racial uplift after the Civil War

"School ma'ams as lobbyists" : the birth of teachers unions and the battle between progressive pedagogy and school efficiency

"An orgy of investigation" : witch hunts and social movement unionism during the wars

"The only valid passport from poverty" : the great expectations of Great Society teachers

"We both got militant" : union teachers versus Black Power during the era of community control

"Very disillusioned" : how teacher accountability displaced desegregation and local control

"Big, measurable goals" : a data-driven vision for millennial teaching

"Let me use what I know" : reforming education by empowering teachers

Epilogue: Lessons from history for improving teaching today.