Complete Idiot's Guide to American History -- Alan Axelrod
WHO'S ON FIRST? (50,000 B.C.-A.D. 1500s).............................................................................11
COLUMBUS DAYS (1451-1507).....................................................................................................17
NEW SPAIN, SAME OLD SPANIARDS (1400-1600s) ..................................................................22
ENGLAND'S ERRANDS (1497-1608) .............................................................................................28
A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE (1608-1733)..................................................................................35
THEY COULD'VE BEEN CONTENDERS (1608-1680s).................................................................42
FIRES IN THE WILDERNESS (1636-1748) ..................................................................................49
GLOBAL WAR — AMERICAN STYLE (1749-1763) ......................................................................56
INVITATION TO A TEA PARTY (1763-1775)...............................................................................63
THE FIRES OF LIBERTY (1776-1783) ..........................................................................................71
FROM MANY, ONE (1787-1797)....................................................................................................78
1812 OVERTURE (1798-1812) ......................................................................................................86
WASHINGTON BURNS, A NATION IS REBORN (1812-1814) ...................................................92
FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN (1814-1836).......................................................................98
TRAILS OF TEARS (1817-1842) ..................................................................................................105
CHAINS, WHIPS, AND HEARTBREAK (1724-1857)..................................................................112
LOOKING WEST (1834-1846)......................................................................................................118
STRANGE FLAG OVER SUMTER (1859-1862) ...........................................................................128
BLOODY ROAD TO APPOMATTOX AND BEYOND (1863-1876) .............................................136
SEA TO SHINING SEA (1862-1878)............................................................................................144
"THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN..." (1862-1891)..............................................................................151
FROM PANIC TO EMPIRE (1869-1908)......................................................................................159
OCTOPUS AND JUNGLE (1877-1906).........................................................................................168
OVER THERE (1898-1918)...........................................................................................................176
JAZZED, BOOZED, AND BUSTED FLAT (1918-1929)...............................................................184
A NEW DEAL AND A NEW WAR (1930-1941) ...........................................................................191
THE "GOOD WAR" (1941-1945)..................................................................................................198
A COLD WAR AND A KOREAN WAR (1944-1954) ....................................................................206
FROM THE BACK OF THE BUS TO THE GREAT SOCIETY (1947-1968)................................214
VIETNAM (1946-1975) .................................................................................................................222
OF LOVE, THE MOON, AND DIRTY TRICKS (1968-1974).......................................................230
WOMEN, CRISIS, AND A CALL TO THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR (1963-1980).................237
A NEW ECONOMY, A PLAGUE, A FALLENWALL, AND A DESERT IN FLAMES (1980-1991)
........................................................................................................................................................244
DEMOCRACY (1992-)....................................................................................................................253