A Legacy of Learning examines the principal periods in the history of European and American education, beginning in ancient Greece and ending in twentieth-century America. It is a superior textbook for courses in the history of western education, tightly organized to cover the territory while developing a strong central theme addressing the continuities of western educational experience. Special attention is given to philosophies of knowledge, the content of instruction, cultural evolution, and educational policy.

The history of education can be construed so broadly as to be unmanageable. Power's thoughtful organization and clear story-telling prose delineates and brings to life the watershed epochs in educational history.