Concise, readable narrative text aimed at the mid-level introductory American history student. This book is ideal for instructors concerned both about cost and brevity. Particular attention is paid to the formation, interaction, and disintegration of national, regional, ethnic, and economic communities.

Table of Contents:
1. Discovery and Disaster: The Old World Meets the New. Pre-Columbian America. The Diversification of Native American Cultures. Explorations to the New World. Origins of English Colonialism. 2. The Founding of the English Colonies. The Virginia Colony. In Search of a Catholic Haven. New England. The Middle Colonies. The Southern Colonies. Patterns of Colonial Government. Slavery. Red and White in Colonial America. New France. 3. Culture and Society in Colonial America. Cultural Diversity. The Means of Support. Social Stratification. Slave Communities. The Colonial Frontier and the Corrosion of Native America. Colonial Religion. Colonial Families. A Growing Sense of Place. 4. The American Revolution. English Colonial Administration. The Clash of Empires. A Separate American Identity. The Growing Breach. The Roots of Massive Resistance. Creating a Nation. The War. . 5. The Search for a Republican Order: From the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution. Republicanism. The Articles of Confederation and the Critical Period. The Constitutional Convention. . 6. The New Republic, 1788-1815. George Washington. John Adams. Thomas Jefferson. James Madison. . 7. The Long Shadow of Andrew Jackson: Party Politics, 1815-1844. Jacksons Rise to Fame. James Monroe. John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson. Martin Van Buren. William Henry Harrison. . 8. Reordering American Society and Culture, 1825-1850. Lafayette and His Visit. A New Order. The Emergence of the Market Economy. Middle-Class Women. Labor Organizations. Cultural, Intellectual, and Religious Strivings. The Reform Movement. 9. Westward Expansion and the War with Mexico. The Lure of the Western Lands. Conflict with the Europeans. Manifest Destiny. Windows on the West. The Overland Trails. 10. "The Peculiar Institution": Slavery and Society in the Antebellum South. Elisha Worthington: Planter. Origins and Development of Slavery. The Contours of Antebellum Southern Society. Domestic Slave Traffic and Slaveholding. The Slave Community. 11. The Unraveling of the Union, 1848-1861. Frederick Douglass and the Antislavery Crusade. An Era of Growth and Change. Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. Franklin Pierce. James Buchanan. Abraham Lincoln. 12. The Civil War. April 1861: War Begins. April 1862: The South Gains Momentum. April 1863: The Pendulum Starts to Swing. April 1864: The North Gains Momentum. April 1865: The War Ends. 13. The Politics of Reconciliation, 1865-1877. The Reality of Freedom. Lincolns Plan of Amnesty and Reconstruction. Johnsons Plan of Reconciliation. Ulysses S. Grant. Rutherford B. Hayes. 14. The Industrial Revolution. The Centennial Exhibition. Postwar Industrialization. The Labor Force. The Emergence of the Modern City. The Rural Regions of America. . 15. Gilded Age Politics: 1877-1897. James A. Garfield. The Struggle for Power Between the President and Congress. Party Politics. Political Upheaval. Grover Cleveland. William McKinley. The Rise of a New Political Order. 16. The New Empire. Overseas Expansion. The Spanish-American War: Expansionism or Humanitarianism. Empire in the Pacific. Balance of Power and the "Big Stick". Moral Imperialism. . 17. Progressivism: The Many Faces of Reform. Theodore Roosevelt. The Goals of Progressivism. Roosevelts Reforms. William Howard Taft. Two Versions of Political Progressivism. Woodrow Wilson. War and Progressivism. Progressive Accomplishments and Legacies. 18. The End of Innocence: The United States and World War I. Events Leading Up to the Great War. America Enters the War. Germany Sues for Peace. The Paris Peace Conference. . 19. The "New Era": 1919-1932. The Economy in the 1920s. The Red Scare. A Time of Many Changes. Changing Demographics. New Technologies. Business. Politics. . 21. Roosevelts New Deal. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelts First Term. Immediate Measures to Increase Revenues. The Second New Deal: Social Programs. Roosevelts Second Term. The Impact of the New Deal. The Politcal Legacy of the New Deal. 21. From Isolationism to Globalism: The United States and World War II. The Emergence of the Axis Powers. American Isolationism. The Outbreak of War in Europe: 1938-1939. American Response to the European War: 1939-1941. Japanese Expansion and the Collapse of the Open Door. The United States Enters the War. Mobilizing the War Effort. "Dr. Win-The-War": The 1944 Elections. Closing the Circle in the Pacific. Operation Overlord: The War in Europe. Victory in the Pacific. 22. The Origins of the Cold War. Seeds of Discord. The Division of Europe. Declaration of Cold War. The Cold War in Asia. NSC 68 and the Globalization of the Cold War. 23. The Fair Deal and the Second Red Scare. Postwar America. Harry S. Truman. The Fair Deal. The Roots on Anticommunism. 24. The Eisenhower Era. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Domestic Programs. Foreign Affairs. A Changing American Culture. The Second Reconstruction: The Civil Rights Movement. . 25. The Politics of Vision: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy. Domestic Agenda. The Kennedys and Civil Rights. Kennedy and the Cold War. 26. The Tragedy of American Liveralism: Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society, and Vietnam. The Kennedy Assasination. Lyndon Johnsons Vision. Triumph and Tragedy. The Dominican Intervention. 27. Continuity and Conflict: American Society, 1960-1975. Education in Crisis. Religion in American Life. Equality of Opportunity, Democracy, and the Supreme Court. The Womens Movement. Gay Liberation. The Student Movement. 28. The Triumph and Travails of Conservatism. The Election of 1968. Nixons First Term. Nixons Second Term. Nixons Resignation and the Legacy of Watergate. 29. Search for Identity: American Politics and Society from Ford to Reagan. Gerald R. Ford. James Earl Carter. Ronald Reagan. 30. A Rage for Change: America and the Coming Millennium. George H. W. Bush. William J. Clinton.