One, for instance, contains a picture of a doll half buried in a mass of untreated sewage; the caption reads, "Are we in danger of being overwhelmed by the products of our society, and wastage created by their production?" Two books show the same picture of an old black woman sitting in a straight chair in a dingy room, her hands folded in graceful resignation; the surrounding text discusses the problems faced by the urban poor and by the aged who depend on Social Security. Other books present current problems less starkly. One of the texts concludes sagely:
例如，一本书以一幅布娃娃半个身子被埋在污水坑里的图片来说明问题，图片说明文字则写道：“我们是否会被我们社会所生产的产品及生产过程中所产生的垃圾所淹没？”另有两本书选择了一张相同的图片，昏喑的房间里一位黑人妇女坐在一张直背椅上，双手交叠，姿势得体却透着无奈；图片周边段落讨论的是城市贫民和依靠养老金度日的老年人所面临的问题。其他书中对当前社会问题的呈现方式则略为温和。某本教材在结尾处语重心长地说：
Problems are part of life. Nations face them, just as people face them, and try to solve them. And today's Americans have one great advantage over past generations. Never before have Americans been so well equipped to solve their problems. They have today the means to conquer poverty, disease, and ignorance. The technetronic age has put that power into their hands.
问题本是生活的一部分。正如每个人都要面对问题一样，一个国家也要面对问题并尝试解决它们。今天的美国与过去相比有一个显著优势，那就是美国人比以往任何时候都要装备精良。今天的美国人有足够的办法去解决贫困、疾病以及无知等问题。技术时代为他们提供了解决问题的能力。
Such passages have a familiar ring. Amid all the problems, the deus ex machina of science still dodders around in the gloaming of pious hope.
这样的话在教材中比比皆是。在问题面前，美国人仍然希塑科学之神能够从天而降，神奇地解决一切问题，但这样的愿望虚无缥渺、不切实际。
Even more surprising than the emergence of problems is the discovery that the great unity of the texts has broken. Whereas in the fifties all texts represented the same political view, current texts follow no pattern of orthodoxy. Some books, for instance, portray civil-rights legislation as a series of actions taken by a wise, paternal government; others convey some suggestion of the social upheaval involved and make mention of such people as Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X. In some books, the Cold War has ended; in others, it continues.
比在教科书中看到美国社会种种问题更让人吃惊的是教材之间的统一性被破坏殆尽。50年代所有的教材呈现的是同一个政治观点，但如今的教材中却再难觅统一的正统观点。比如，公民权利的立法保障在一些书中被描述成是一个如父亲般慈爱的政府所采取的一系列措施，但在另一些书中却隐含社会动乱，并出现了诸如斯托克利·卡迈克尔和马尔克姆·X等人的名字。冷战，在一些书中已然结束，在另一些书中却还在继续。
The political diversity in the books is matched by a diversity of pedagogical approach. In addition to the traditional narrative histories, with their endless streams of facts, there are so-called "discovery," or “inquiry" texts, which deal with a limited number of specific issues in American history. These texts do not pretend to cover the past; they focus on particular topics, such as "stratification in Colonial society" or "slavery and the American Revolution," and illustrate them with documents from primary and secondary sources.
与书中多样化的政治观点相呼应的还有多元化的教学方式。除了传统的史实叙述法提供无尽的历史亊实之外，还有所谓的“发现”和“探究”部分，针对美国历史上一些特定事件进行讨论。这些部分并不试图去叙述过去的历史，而是聚焦于诸如“殖民地时期社会的阶层分化”和“奴隶制与美国独立战争”等特定话题，并佐以一手或二手资料加以论证。