Eanes Independent School District is one of Texas’s most elite, with a track record of academic and athletic success. Lately, however, the wealthy suburban school district has been embroiled in a controversy over its curriculum. A group of parents contends that Eanes’s progressive leadership has turned its curriculum into “an updated version of Marxism focusing on differences between people.” Personal attacks, political maneuvering, and lawsuits have ensued. How did Eanes, despite all its success, get here? The trouble starts with basic questions: Why these texts versus those texts? What books must people read? What traditions should public schools tap in teaching children? 

When fights break out over the answers, trouble brews.