An examination of the controversies that surround education, tradition and history in an international context. The author examines the sources of the controversy that have arisen around the question of history in Germany, Japan, Britain and the USA. He argues that the conventional distinctions between left and right, or conservative, liberal and socialist have little relevance to the discussion, suggesting that even bitter intellectual foes such as conservatives and the cultural left share common assumptions regarding the past and the nature of history.