Unfortunately we do not have a summary for this item at the moment

I. A COLONIZING PEOPLE, 1492-1776. 1. Three Worlds Meet. The People of America Before Columbus. Recovering the Past. Archaeological Artifacts. Africa on the Eve of Contact. Europe in the Age of Exploration. The Iberian Conquest of America. The Columbian Exchange. England Looks West. Conclusion: Converging Worlds. 2. Colonizing a Continent. The Chesapeake Tobacco Coast. Recovering the Past. Houses. Massachusetts and its Offspring. From the St. Lawrence to the Hudson. Proprietary Carolina: A Restoration Reward. The Quaker's Peaceable Kingdom New Spain's Northern Frontier. Conclusion: The Achievement of New Societies. 3. Mastering the New World. African Bondage. The African Slave Trade. Slave Culture. The Struggle for Land. An Era of Instability. Recovering the Past. Tombstones. Contending for a Continent. Conclusion: Controlling the New Environment. 4. The Maturing of Colonial Society. America's First Population Explosion. Beyond the Appalachians. A Land of Family Farms. Ecological Transformation. The Plantation South. The Urban World of Commerce and Ideas. The Urban Social Structure. Recovering the Past. Household Inventories. The Great Awakening. Political Life. Technology Changes the American People. Lightning Rods. Conclusion: America in 1750. 5. Bursting the Colonial Bonds. The Climactic Seven Years' War. The Crisis with England. Recovering the Past. Poetry. The Ideology of Revolutionary Republicanism. The Turmoil of Revolutionary Society. Technology Changes the American People. Smallpox Inoculations. Conclusion: Forging a Revolution. II. A REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE, 1775-1828. 6. A People in Revolution. The War for American Independence. The Experience of War. Recovering the Past. Patriotic Paintings. The Ferment of Revolutionary Politics. Conclusion: The Crucible of Revolution. 7. Consolidating the Revolution. Struggling with the Peacetime Agenda. Recovering the Past. Indian Treaties. Revolutionary Politics in the States. Political Tumult in the States. Toward a New National Government. Conclusion: Completing the Revolution. 8. Creating a Nation. Launching the National Republic. Recovering the Past. Foreign Travel Journals. The Republic in a Threatening World. The Political Crisis Deepens. Technology Changes the American People. Industrial Technology in the Wooden Age. Conclusion: Toward the Nineteenth Century. 9. Society and Politics in the Early Republic. Restoring American Liberty. Building an Agrarian Nation. A Nation of Regions. Recovering the Past. Maps. The Movement of White and Black Population into Trans-Appalachia, 1790-1830. Indian-White Relations in the Early Republic. Perfecting a Democratic Society. A Foreign Policy for the New Nation. Politics in Transition. Technology Changes the American People. Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin. Conclusion: The Passing of an Era. III. AN EXPANDING PEOPLE, 1820-1877. 10. Currents of Change in the Northeast and the Old Northwest. Economic Growth. Early Manufacturing. A New England Textile Town. Urban Life. Recovering the Past. Family Paintings. Rural Communities. Conclusion: The Character of Progress. 11. Slavery and the Old South. Building the Cotton Kingdom. Slavery Expands with the Cotton Boom. Morning: Master in the Big House. Noon: Slaves in House and Fields. Night: Slaves in Their Quarters. Resistance and Freedom. Recovering the Past. Folktales. Conclusion: Douglass's Dream of Freedom. 12. Shaping America in the Antebellum Age. Religious Revival and Reform Philosophy. The Political Response to Change. Perfectionist Reform and Utopianism. Reforming Society. Abolitionism and Women's Rights. Recovering the Past. Slave Narratives. Technology Changes the American People. The Sewing Machine. Conclusion: Perfecting America. 13.Moving West. Probing the Trans-Mississippi West. Winning the Trans-Mississippi West. Going West. Recovering the Past. Personal Diaries. Living on the Frontier. Cultures in Conflict. Conclusion: Fruits of the Manifest Destiny. 14. The Union in Peril. Slavery in the Territories. Recovering the Past. Senate Speeches. Political Disintegration. Kansas and the Two Cultures. Polarization and the Road to War. The Divided House Halls. Conclusion: The Irrepressible Conflict. 15. The Union Severed. Organizing for War. Clashing on the Battlefield, 1861-1862. The Tide Turns, 1863-1865. Changes Wrought by War. Recovering the Past. Photography. Conclusion: An Uncertain Future. 16. The Union Reconstructed. The Bittersweet Aftermath of War. National Reconstruction. Life After Slavery. Reconstruction in the States. Recovering the Past. Novels. Conclusion: A Mixed Legacy. IV. AN INDUSTRIALIZING PEOPLE, 1865-1900. 17. The Realities of Rural America. Modernizing Agriculture. The Second Great Removal. Recovering the Past. Magazines. The New South. Farm Protest. Conclusion: Farming in the Industrial Age. 18. The Rise of Smokestack America. The Texture of Industrial Progress. Steel: The Engine of Industrial Growth. Urban Expansion in the Industrial Age. The Industrial City, 1880-1900. The Life of the Middle Class. Industrial Work and the Laboring Class. Recovering the Past. Congressional Hearings. Capital versus Labor. Technology Changes the American People. The Flush Toilet. Conclusion: The Complexity of Industrial Capitalism. 19. Politics and Reform. Politics in the Gilded Age. Middle-Class Reform. The Pivotal 1890S. Recovering the Past. Political Campaign Artifacts: Buttons and Posters. Technology Changes the American People. The Bicycle. Conclusion: Looking Forward. 20. Becoming a World Power. Steps Toward Empire. Expansionism in the 1890S. Cuba and the Philippines. Theodore Roosevelt's Energetic Diplomacy. Recovering the Past. Political Cartoons. Conclusion: The Responsibilities of Power. V. A MODERNIZING PEOPLE, 1900-1945. 21. The Progressives Confront Industrial Capitalism. The Social Justice Movement. Recovering the Past. Documentary Photographs. The Worker in the Progressive Era. Reform in the Cities and States. Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal. Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom. Conclusion: The Limits of Progressivism. 22. The Great War. The Early War Years. The United States Enters the War. Recovering the Past. Government Propaganda. The Military Experience. Domestic Impact of the War. Planning for Peace. Conclusion: The Divided Legacy of the Great War. 23. Affluence and Anxiety. Postwar Problems. A Prospering Economy. The Impact of the Automobile. Recovering the Past. Advertising. Hopes Raised, Promises Deferred. The Business of Politics. Technology Changes the American People. Wireless Communication. Conclusion: A New Era of Prosperity and Problems. 24. The Great Depression and the New Deal. The Great Depression. Roosevelt and the First New Deal. One Hundred Days. The Second New Deal. The Last Years of the New Deal. The Other Side of the 1930s. Recovering the Past. Movies. Conclusion: The Ambivalence of the Great Depression. 25. World War II. The Twisting Road to War. The Home Front. Social Impact of the War. Recovering the Past. War Monuments. A War of Diplomats and Generals. Technology Changes the American People. Plastics. Conclusion: Peace, Prosperity, and International Responsibilities. VI. A RESILIENT PEOPLE, 1945-2000. 26. Postwar Growth and Social Change. Economic Boom. Demographic and Technological Trends. The Computer. Consensus and Conformity. Recovering the Past. Clothing. The Other America. Technology Changes the American People. Air Conditioning. Conclusion: Qualms Amid Affluence. 27. Chills and Fever During the Cold War. Origins of the Cold War. Containing the Soviet Union. Containment in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Atomic Weapons and the Cold War. The Cold War at Home. Continuing Confrontations With Communists. The Quagmire of Vietnam. Recovering the Past. Public Opinion Polls. The Vietnam War. Conclusion: The Cold War in Perspective. 28. High Water and Ebb Tide of the Liberal State. The Origins of the Welfare State. The High Water Mark of Liberalism. Recovering the Past. Television. The Decline of Liberalism. Conclusion: Political Readjustment. 29. The Struggle for Social Reform. The Black Struggle for Equality. Pressure From the Women's Movement. Latino Mobilization. Native American Protest. Social and Cultural Protest. Recovering the Past. Popular Music. Conclusion: Extending the American Dream. 30. The Revival of Conservatism. The Conservative Transformation. An End to Social Reform. The Postindustrial Economy. Demographic and Regional Change. Recovering the Past. Autobiography. The United States in a Changed World. Technology Changes the American People. The Internet and the World Wide Web. Conclusion: The Recent Past in Perspective. Appendix. Index.