Includes index

Introduction : Making history -- Where the birds led -- A continent in space and time -- Out of one, many -- A golden age and the age of gold -- When worlds collide -- How can I be saved? -- Saints and strangers -- Boom country -- Equal and unequal -- Enlightened and awakened -- Be careful what you wish for -- More than a quarrel -- Equal and independent -- More perfect union -- Washington's fear -- Empire of liberty -- Man of the people -- Cotton kingdoms -- Burned over -- Frontiers -- Crossing the line -- What was coming -- How do you reconstruct? -- The next big thing -- The color of your collar -- A tale of two cities -- The new west -- Luck or pluck? -- The progressives -- Smashup -- The masses -- A new deal -- Global war -- Superpower -- The end of the world -- You or you or you -- The avalanche -- A conservative turn -- Connected -- The past asks more.

"Describes how the United States developed from the first contact between extremely different cultures to its role as a superpower and explores how a country based on diversity seeks the sometimes contradictory goals of freedom and equality."--Publisher's description