Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse is the first English-language study of GDR education and the first book, in any language, that traces the full history of eastern German education from 1945 through the 1990's. It traces the full history of the GDR's attempt to create a new Marxist nation by means of educational reform. The scope of the book goes beyond previous investigations of the subject, both in the sense of its comprehensive inclusiveness of topics beyond education in narrowly conceived terms, and in its extension of the historical narrative to post-GDR life.