Have We Been Taught Marbury v. Madison Wrong?

One of the most striking parts of Kramer's The People Themselves has been his discussion of Marbury v. Madison. As someone who has taken numerous U.S. history classes and even an American legal history course in undergrad, this is the first time I was exposed to this considerably different interpretation of the significance (or lack thereof) of Marbury. It seems that Marbury is not revolutionary, but rather reactionary. Marbury did not create, much less expand, the power of judicial review (as we teach students). Instead, Marbury defended the departmental understanding of the power of judicial review against a perceived attack by politicians.

Although this is certainly a more complex understanding of Marbury, I'm upset a little upset to know that we have oversimplified this case to such a degree. It gets included with landmark decisions like Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade, when it is really on the same level of significance (at least in my mind).