This article analyses the economical and social conditions of production of a didactic manual, based on works as Apple's (1995) and Goodson's (1999), as well as it presents and discusses the necessary conditions for a History didactic manual to produce historical consciousness, starting from the categories created by Rüsen (1997). The research includes the analysis of the didactic material produced in one of the major interprises in this sector in Brazil, as much in the perspective of its political economy as in its relationship with the categories developed by Rüsen. Here are also presented the opinions of the researched material's author and the teacher who utilized it in his classes, attempting to realize a connection between the theory and the actors' points of view of the process of production and use of didactic material.
Historical education; Textbooks; Historical consciousness