The Mayflower and before
Becoming Americans
A "democrataical phrenzy": America in the age of revolution
Making a nation
By the dawn's early light: forging a national identity
We're in the money: the age of invention
Names
"Manifest destiny": taming the West
The melting pot: immigration in America
When the going was good: travel in America
What's cooking? Eating in America
Democratizing luxury: shopping in America
Manners and other matters
The hard sell: advertising in America
The movies
The pursuit of pleasure: sport and play
Of bombs and bunkum: politics and war
Sex and other distractions
From Kitty Hawk to the jumbo jet
Welcome to the Space Age: the 1950s and beyond
American English today.