School Board Battles

Reviewer's Bookwatch, Sept, 2004 by Jack Burroughs

School Board Battles

Melissa M. Deckman

Georgetown University Press

3240 Prospect Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007

1589010019 $26.95 1-800-246-9606 www.press.georgetown.edu

Also available in a hardcover edition (1589010000, $39.95), School Board Battles: The Christian Right In Local Politics by Melisa M. Deckman (Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington College, Chesterton, Maryland) examines ongoing local school board elections in America, and their effect upon shaping the culture and educational curriculum of the nation, a phenomenon that gaind widespread attention when the Kansas state school board, led by outspoken Christians, voted to delete evolution from the state's science curriculum and standardized tests. Especially focusing upon the electoral success of Christian Right school board candidates, School Board Battles strives to reveal why conservative Christians run for school boards, the extent of the Christian Right's influence upon school boards, and the manner in which conservative Christians in general tend to govern. A critical and insightful study of turbulent struggles to determine what will be taught to America's next generation.