Includes index.

First Americans (prehistory to ca. 1600) -- The experiment begins (1600-1700) -- Colonial noontide (1700-1770) -- The American Revolution (1770-1783) -- The federal era (1783-1815) -- American expansionism (1815-1860) -- The Civil War (1860-1865) -- The Gilded Age (1865-1890) -- A new colossus (1890-1901) -- Progressivism and a call to arms (1901-1918) -- Prosperity and Depression (1918-1939) -- The Second World War (1939-1945) -- Cold war and new frontier (1945-1963) -- Turbulence and transition (1964-1989) -- Into the millennium (1989-present).