This article concerns textbook analysis regarding the presentation of socialism in four leading high school social studies books, one in each of the following subjects: United States history, world history, United States government, and economics. Findings indicate that students relying on these texts to gain understanding of socialism and contemporary expressions of socialist ideas in modern societies will be invariably shortchanged. In most of the books, students are not encouraged to analyze or evaluate socialism. The potential of the books to help students achieve goals identified by the National Council for the Social Studies, certain content standards established by the National Council on Economics Education, and other standards established by state boards such as the California State Board of Education, is quite limited.