What does 'social cohesion' really mean in Western liberal democracies and, more importantly, what should it ideally mean? If we identify the answer to that question, we next need to ask what sort of school structures and educational interventions are required to actualise this ideal. Mary Healy's rich and fascinating study not only sheds new conceptual light on the notion of civic relationships and its dense metaphorical layers, it also offers sensible practical advice to educators and policy-makers on how education for social cohesion can be made into a tangible goal for schooling.