Known for its balanced voice and approachable scholarship, Alan Brinkley's best-selling The Unfinished Nation offers a concise, yet thorough survey of American History appropriate for students at all levels. The 8th edition features new scholarship and updated discussions, most significantly on the topics of War, American Imperialism, and Globalization.Brinkley’s accessible narrative is available as a digital SmartBook™,a personalized eBook that enhances understanding by asking students to demonstrate comprehension as they read. It is also supported by engaging digital tools, such as interactive maps, that encourage critical thinking and retention of key course concepts.

The collision of cultures -- Transplantations and borderlands -- Society and culture in provincial America -- The empire in transition -- The American Revolution -- The Constitution and the New Republic -- The Jeffersonian Era -- Varieties of American nationalism -- Jacksonian America -- America's economic revolution -- Cotton, slavery, and the Old South -- Antebellum culture and reform -- The impending crisis -- The Civil War -- Reconstruction and the New South. The conquest of the far west -- Industrial supremacy -- The age of the city -- From crisis to empire -- The Progressives -- America and the Great War -- The New Era -- The Great Depression -- The New Deal -- The global crisis, 1921-1941 -- America in a world at war -- The Cold War -- The affluent society -- Civil rights, Vietnam, and the ordeal of liberalism -- The crisis of authority -- From "the age of limits" to the age of Reagan -- The age of globalization.