Back Cover: Little Sunshine. Lithograph published by the Knapp Co., 1897. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-44527. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018695177/.

The history teacher displays a mastery of many talents, not least of which is the ability to perform a continuous balancing act of books. This feat is no small challenge, as we consider a variety of authors, contour for specific audiences, grapple with bombardments of promotional materials, and accommodate inundations of institutional and governmental requirements—only for the process to begin anew with the next incoming class. The results, however, seem miraculous when we see the spark of discovery flash in the eyes of our students.

Books, which frequently form the core of our teaching, are at the heart of this issue: John H. Bickford III and Theresa Byas evaluate the different representations of Martin Luther King Jr. in tradebooks aimed at younger readers, while Mark Pearcy analyzes the remarkably similar depictions of the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in textbooks for more advanced readers. Peter Conolly-Smith zeroes in on one popular U.S. history textbook to canvass how it has changed—for better or worse—with each new edition. Jordan M. Reed frames the textbook as a form of pedagogical technology in its own right, whether through traditional print versions or the ever-growing digital field of open educational resources. Dave Neumann then takes us behind the scenes of the intricate textbook adoption process for grades K-8 under California's State Board of Education. Finally, Kevin Vanzant and Summer Cherland each tackle the concept of narrative itself, with innovative methods on how the narrative structure can be mined for even more historical learning opportunities.

Martin Luther King's Historical Representation in Primary, Intermediate, and Middle Level Books
  by John H. Bickford III and Theresa Byas   (pp. 549-593)

"We Are Not Enemies": An Analysis of Textbook Depictions of Fort Sumter and the Beginning of the Civil War
  by Mark Pearcy   (pp. 595-614)

Teaching The American Promise: On Textbooks, Quizzes, and the U.S. Survey
  by Peter Conolly-Smith   (pp. 615-636)

The Textbook as Technology in the Age of Open Education Resources
  by Jordan M. Reed   (pp. 637-651)

Textbooks in the Balance: An Insider's Review of the History-Social Science Textbook Adoption Process
  by Dave Neumann   (pp. 653-676)

Problems with Narrative in the U.S. Survey and How Fiction can Help
  by Kevin Vanzant   (pp. 677-696)

The Romance and Tragedy of American History: Analyzing Narrative from Day One
  by Summer Cherland   (pp. 697-715)

Full Reviews Section   (pp. 717-730)

Clark, Catherine E. Paris and The Cliché of History: The City and Photographs, 1860-1970
  by Lela F. Kerley

Lim, Julian. Porous Borders: Multiracial Migrations and the Law in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
  by Chloe Bell-Wilson

Mauldin, Erin Stewart. Unredeemed Land: An Environmental History of Civil War and Emancipation in the Cotton South
  by G. David Schieffler

Murphy, Mary-Elizabeth B. Jim Crow Capital: Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920-1945
  by Marshall Hyatt

Rosenthal, Caitlin. Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management
  by Patricia M. Muhammad

Smith, Benjamin T. The Mexican Press and Civil Society 1940-1976: Stories from the Newsroom, Stories from the Street
  by Zachary Cuddy

Smith, Steven Carl. An Empire of Print: The New York Publishing Trade in the Early American Republic
  by Emily J. Arendt

Strang, Cameron B. Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1850
  by Hadley Sinclair Cluxton

Index to Volume 52   (pp. 731-736)

547   Contributors to The History Teacher
737   Questionnaire for Potential Reviewers
738   Membership/Subscription Information
740   Submission Guidelines for The History Teacher

594   Association for Asian Studies: 2019 Book Releases
652   Society For History Education: Celebrating 50 Years

John H. Bickford III, a former Mid-Prairie (Iowa) Middle School Social Studies Teacher, is currently an Associate Professor of Social Studies/History Education in the Department of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education at Eastern Illinois University. His undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral work in Secondary Social Studies Education are all from the University of Iowa. He explores the texts and tasks that facilitate elementary and middle level students' history literacy, historical thinking, and historical argumentation.

Theresa Byas recently earned her undergraduate degree from the Department of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education at Eastern Illinois University. She is now a Teacher of Third Grade at Lincoln Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois.

Summer Cherland teaches American, Mexican-American, and African-American history at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a co-founder of the South Phoenix Oral History Project. She earned her Ph.D. in History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Peter Conolly-Smith teaches American Culture and History at CUNY-Queens College in New York. He has published articles on war, immigration, ethnicity, theater, and film. His book, Translating America: An Immigrant Press Visualizes Popular American Culture, 1895-1918, was published by the Smithsonian Press in 2004. He received his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1996.

Dave Neumann (Ph.D., History, University of Southern California) is an Assistant Professor of Education at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His teaching focuses on historical thinking, historical literacy, and the intersection between scholarship and pedagogy. His history research interests include American religion, the Cold War, and Southern California. His book, Finding God through Yoga: Paramahansa Yogananda and Modern American Religion in a Global Age, was published by The University of North Carolina Press in 2019.

Mark Pearcy (Ph.D., Social Science Education, University of South Florida) is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Prior to that, he was a National Board-Certified Social Studies Teacher in public high schools for nineteen years. His research interests include American history, social studies pedagogy, and the "Just War" doctrine.

Jordan M. Reed is a Caspersen School Fellow and Ph.D. candidate in History and Culture at Drew University. He is a History Teacher at Morristown-Beard School and an Adjunct Professor of History at Ramapo College of New Jersey, where he utilizes the American History Textbook Project (AHTP) in his teaching. His research focuses on the history of American history textbooks and textbook authors. His scholarship has appeared in Book History and Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy.

Kevin Vanzant received his Ph.D. in History from Vanderbilt University in 2013. He is an Adjunct Professor at Tennessee State University in Nashville in the Department of History, Political Science, Geography, and Africana Studies, where he teaches multiple sections of the U.S. survey every semester.