Designed to examine the way that different ethnic groups are presented in South African secondary school history textbooks, this study gives special attention to the extent and nature of ethnic stereotyping in texts and the endorsement of particular social and political attitudes relevant to contemporary South Africa. By using a sociological perspective rather than an historical or educational one, this study focuses less on the historical accuracy or pedagogic merit of textbooks than on the kind of 'world views' being offered and their implications for society as a whole. The first of eight chapters gives an introduction and background to the study. Chapter 2 presents a profile of education in South Africa, while chapters 3 and 4 examine aims and methods of textbook analysis and the distribution of subject matter. Chapters 5 through 7 look at the treatment of topics in detail, i.e., blacks and whites in the early 19th century, South African contemporary history, and social and political change in Africa. Chapter 8, "Conclusions," indicates that some or all of the following were found in the examined textbooks: pervasive ethnocentricism, glorification of nationalism, presentation of the past as a model for the present, presentation of the historically contingent as natural and inevitable, perpetuation of myths, discrediting of counterideologies, assumption of black incompetence, and racism and stereotyping. Appendices include over 20 supporting data tables. (LH)