Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

v. 1. From the age of discovery to a world at war, 1492-1914. Westward the course (1492-1607): Columbus -- The scramble for empire -- The rise of England -- A city upon a hill (1607-1765): Coming to America -- The great migration -- Expanding British rule -- Britain and France: conflict for a continent -- Religious and intellectual awakenings -- Britain and France: the final conflict -- The greatest revolution ( 1765-1783): Stamping out unfair taxes -- A total separation -- The shot heard 'round the world -- A continental war -- The French alliance -- The world turned upside down -- A dangerous place -- Reflection and choice: framing the Constitution (1783-1789): A critical period -- Madison -- Ratification -- The new republic (1789-1801): "The sacred fire of liberty" -- Madison's Bill of Rights -- Hamilton's new system -- Hurricane Genet -- John Adams -- The Revolution of 1800 -- The Jeffersonians (1801-1829): An empire for liberty -- Lewis & Clark -- Plots, trials, treason -- Jefferson's last years -- Mr. Madison's war -- The Battle of New Orleans -- An era of good feeling -- The Missouri Compromise -- The Monroe Doctrine -- The election of 1824 -- Adams and Jefferson die -- Jackson and democracy (1828-1849): From caucus to raucous: the election of 1828 -- The Peggy Eaton affair -- John C. Calhoun -- Our federal union must be preserved -- The tragedy of Indian removal -- Jackson's war on the bank -- "Old man eloquent" -- Tippecanoe and Tyler, too! -- Great Harry of the West -- Reannexing Texas and reoccupying Oregon -- The halls of Montezuma --

The rising storm (1849-1861): California and the compromise of 1850 -- Railroads and reform -- "Bleeding Kansas" -- Dred Scott -- Lincoln meets Douglas -- John Brown and Harpers Ferry -- The election of 1860 -- Freedom's fiery trial (1860-1863): Secession winter (1860-61) -- Fort Sumter -- Civil War -- The Trent Affair -- 1862: Year of Jubilee -- Emancipation -- A new birth of freedom (1863-1865): Gettysburg: The Confederacy's high-water mark -- The agony of Abraham Lincoln -- "Long Abraham a little longer" -- The Union victorious -- To bind up the nation's wounds (1865-1877): Pass in review -- Thunder on the borders: South and North -- Reconstruction and renewal -- Impeachment -- "Let us have peace" -- A tragic divorce in freedom's ranks -- The spirit of 1876 -- A dangerous dispute -- An age more golden than gilded? (1877-1897): Reform, Roosevelts and reaction -- Grover Cleveland: "Tell the truth!" -- The Golden Door -- Winning the west -- A social gospel -- A cross of gold -- From the new world -- The American dynamo: shadowed by war (1897-1914): "A splendid little war" -- Rough Rider politics -- Teddy Roosevelt in the White House, and the Square Deal -- Wielding the big stick -- The William Howard Taft interlude -- Unsinkable, unthinkable -- 1912 election -- Woodrow Wilson and the new freedom -- "The lights are going out..."

v. 2. From a world at war to the triumph of freedom, 1914-1989.