(Virginia, New York) -- New England takes shape (1628-1675) -- From the Hudson to the James (1626-1675) -- Empires of the South and North (1625-1675) -- Time of troubles (1675-1691) -- Pennsylvania and the West Indies (1688-1700: William Penn, Queen Anne) -- Growth and development (1713-1750) -- Wars on the Spaniards and the French (1733-1763) -- Triumph and tribulation (1763-1766: the 13 colonies) -- Crisis, calm, and again crisis (1766-1774) -- Coercion to independence (1774-1776) -- Military and naval generalities (1775-81) -- The Northern campaigns (1776-78) -- Diplomacy, Carolinas, Yorktown, and peace (1779-1783) -- Revolutionary Constitution making (1775-1781) -- The creative period in commerce and the arts (1782-1789) -- The creative period in politics (1785-88) -- Washington's first administration (1789-93) -- Broils with England and France (1793-1801) -- Jefferson's administration (1801-09) -- The 2nd war with Great Britain (1809-15) -- Good feelings and bad (1815-23) -- 2nd Adams and 1st Jackson administrations (1825-33) -- Nullification and the Bank War (1833-37) -- Foreign affairs and the removal of the Indians (1830-38) -- Van Buren and our Northern neighbors (1837-58) -- Society and business in the North (1820-60) -- The Empire state, citadel of democracy (1820-60) -- The Southern states (1820-50) -- Ferment and culture in the North (1829-50: reformers, abolition, utopia) -- Pacific empire beckons (1766-1860) -- Texas and the Mexican War (1820-1848) -- Compromise and calm (1846-54: Wilmot Proviso, Gold rush, Japan opened, Isthmian brawls) -- Kansas, Nebraska and new parties (1854-59) -- The approach to the Civil War (1859-61) -- The war in 1861 -- 1862: the crucial year -- At home and abroad (1861-65) -- The campaigns of 1863-64 -- Victory and death (1864-65) -- Reconstruction (1865-77) -- The Republican dynasty (1869093) -- Expansion and development (1870-1900) -- Social and cultural developments (1870-1900) -- The fecund 1890s -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909 -- Taft and Wilson, 1909-1917 -- The 1st World War: the neutrality period, 1914-1917 -- The United States in WWI, 1917-20 -- The great change, 1902-39 -- Republican ascendancy, 1921-33 -- The Hoover administration (1829-33) -- The New Deal -- The 2nd Roosevelt administration (1937-41) -- On the defense, 1941-42 -- Victory, 1944-45 -- The Truman administrations, 1945-53 -- The Eisenhower administrations, 1953-61 -- The Kennedy administration, 1961-63.

The author re-creates the American modes of living in years past in this volume of social, political, and economic history.