Part I: Getting There, Getting Settled, and Getting Free.

Chapter 1: America: A Short Biography.

Chapter 2: Native Americans and Explorers: 12,000 BC(?)–1607.

Chapter 3: Pilgrims’ Progress: The English Colonies, 1607–1700.

Chapter 4: You Say You Want a Revolution. . . : 1700–1775.

Chapter 5: Yankee Doodlin’: 1775–1783.

Chapter 6: Blueprints and Birth Pains: 1783–1800.

Part II: Growing Pains.

Chapter 7: “Long Tom” and One Weird War: 1800–1815.

Chapter 8: Pulling Together to Keep from Falling Apart: 1815–1844.

Chapter 9: War, Gold, and a Gathering Storm: 1845–1860.

Chapter 10: A Most Uncivil War: 1861–1865.

Chapter 11: Putting the Country Back Together: 1865–1876.

Part III: Coming of Age.

Chapter 12: Growing Up: 1876–1898.

Chapter 13: Growing into the 20th Century: 1899–1918.

Chapter 14: Gin, Jazz, and Lucky Lindy: 1919–1929.

Chapter 15: Uncle Sam’s Depressed: 1930–1940.

Chapter 16: The World at War: 1941–1945.

Part IV: America in Adulthood.

Chapter 17: TV, Elvis, and Reds under the Bed: 1946–1960.

Chapter 18: Camelot to Watergate: 1961–1974.

Chapter 19: Hold the Malaise, or, Ayatollah So: 1975–1992.

Chapter 20: No Sex, Please, I’m the President: 1993–1999.

Chapter 21: “It’s A Small World, After All”: Entering the 21st Century.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 22: Ten American Inventions that Changed Life as We Know It.

Chapter 23: Ten Events that Defi ned American Culture.

Chapter 24: Ten Events in U.S. History They Keep Making into Movies.

Part VI: Appendixes.

Appendix A: The Bill of Rights: Amendments 1–10 of the Constitution.

Appendix B: The Declaration of Independence.

Index.