In this comprehensive introduction to multicultural education, author Peter Appelbaum reveals that Native American-run schools in the early 19th century produced nearly 100 percent literacy rates--higher among western Oklahoma Cherokees than among whites in nearby Texas or Arkansas. Today, as the country rapidly becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, he discusses how success in diversity education requires that administrators, teachers, and students change the way they look at each other, the curriculum, and the structures and policies that govern schools.

"Diversity and...