Hofstadter breaks his analysis of the history of matters of intellect in America by looking at three broad areas: religion, education in relation to labor movements and politics and changing philosophies on how children should be educated. While I found the discussion of historical labor movements to be uncompelling as it relates to the grand topic of the book, his review of religion and approaches to education in this country are as relevant today as they were when the book was written in 1963.