W. W. Norton & Company : College Books

Note on Reorganization

Reorganized into eight distinct parts for the Second Edition, each one with an introduction, the text is now more concise and teachable. In the service of a clean, direct narrative, some chapters have been trimmed, while others have been reorganized to present big events in a more self-contained fashion. The part introductions clarify core historical developments and help students draw connections among the chapters that comprise the part. The part introductions also reinforce the innovation theme by exploring its applications to the events of the period.

Part I, explores the many adaptations made by native Americans, the Spanish, English, and French in North America, the launch of England's North American colonies, and the origins of slavery in the Chesapeake. Recent archeological work informs the authors’ discussion of early Virginia, including new coverage of early printed literature of America and its relation to the cultural norms of Britain.

• Chapter 1: Men Prone to Wonder: America Before 1600
• Chapter 2: The European Settlement of North America: The Atlantic Coast to 1660
• Chapter 3: Empires (1660–1702)
• Chapter 4: Benjamin Franklin’s World: Colonial North America (1702–1763)

Part II extends discussion of how the Revolution brought about innovations that increasingly differentiated the United States from Europe and offers a fuller discussion of the Haitian Revolution, the Lewis & Clark expedition, and the sources of power that fueled America’s industrial growth.

• Chapter 5: Toward Independence (1764–1783)
• Chapter 6: Inventing the American Republic: The States (1776–1790)
• Chapter 7: Inventing the American Republic: The Nation (1776–1788)
• Chapter 8: Establishing the New Nation (1789–1800)
• Chapter 9: The Fabric of Change (1800–1815)

Part III takes the narrative beyond the War of 1812 to discuss the broad forces of economic, technological, and social change—the market revolution—that were propelling the United States into a new, industrial era. It presents the Second Great Awakening in the context of innovation across American life, including a new section that explores the effects of high-speed printing on reform movements.

• Chapter 10: A New Epoch (1815–1828)
• Chapter 11: Political Innovation in a Mechanical Age (1828–1840)
• Chapter 12: Worker Worlds in Antebellum America
• Chapter 13: The Age of Improvement: Religion and Reform (1825–1846)

Part IV highlights the connections between national expansion and sectional division. A new section on the Perry Expedition to Japan gives us a snapshot of America's developing material power. A reorganized section on the Civil War explores its profound effects on politics, society, and technological development.

• Chapter 14: National Expansion, Sectional Division (1839–1850)
• Chapter 15: A House Dividing (1851–1860)
• Chapter 16: Civil War (1861–1865)
• Chapter 17: Reconstruction (1865–1877)

Part V incorporates new material on Southern politics and voter rights after the Civil War and on the evolution of American empire, including new perspectives on the Spanish-American War and U.S. involvement in Latin America.

• Chapter 18: The Rise of Big Business and the Triumph of Industry (1870–1900)
• Chapter 19: An Industrial Society (1870–1910)
• Chapter 20: Politics and the State (1876–1900)
• Chapter 21: A New Place in the World (1865–1914)

Part VI includes new material on muckraking and progressivism in the South and expanded coverage of World War I and the 1920s, each presented now in its own chapter.

• Chapter 22: The Progressive Era (1900–1916)
• Chapter 23: The Great War (1914–1919)
• Chapter 24: A Conservative Interlude: The 1920s
• Chapter 25: The Great Depression and the New Deal (1929–1940)

Part VII presents new discussions of Southern agriculture and industry during the 1950s, and explains how economic development and new forms of energy such as dams transformed the landscape of the West. A fresh treatment of the arts in postwar America is also included.

• Chapter 26: Whirlpool of War (1932–1941)
• Chapter 27: Fighting for Freedom (1942–1945)
• Chapter 28: A Troubled Peace (1945–1953)
• Chapter 29: Eisenhower, Affluence, and Civil Rights (1954–1960)
• Chapter 30: Reform, Rage, and Vietnam (1960–1968)

Part VIII amplifies the discussion of contemporary American innovation with a new chapter that focuses on the social and economic changes that occurred from the 1970s through the 1990s, and with a new final chapter that carries the narrative through Fall 2005 and Hurricane Katrina.

• Chapter 31: Revival of Conservativism (1969–1980)
• Chapter 32: "The Cold War is Over" (1981–1992)
• Chapter 33: Innovations and Divisions in a Globalizing Society (1970–2000)
• Chapter 34: The Politics of Division (1993–2001)
• Chapter 35: At War Against Terror