List of Maps ix
Introduction: Making History xi
1. Where the Birds Led 1
2. A Continent in Space and Time 5
3. Out of One, Many 10
4. A Golden Age and the Age of Gold 16
5. When Worlds Collide 23
6. How Can I Be Saved? 30
7. Saints and Strangers 38
8. Boom Country 45
9. Equal and Unequal 52
10. Enlightened and Awakened 60
11. Be Careful What You Wish For 66
12. More Than a Quarrel 75
13. Equal and Independent 83
14. More Perfect Union 92
15. Washington's Fear 99
16. Empire of Liberty 106
17. Man of the People 115
18. Cotton Kingdoms 123
19. Burned Over 131
20. Frontiers 138
21. Crossing the Line 148
22. What Was Coming 157
23. How Do You Reconstruct? 168
24. The Next Big Thing 176
25. The Color of Your Collar 183
26. A Tale of Two Cities 190
27. The New West 198
28. Luck or Pluck? 205
29. The Progressives 213
30. Smashup 222
31. The Masses 230
32. A New Deal 237
33. Global War 245
34. Superpower 254
35. The End of the World 263
36. You or You or You 270
37. The Avalanche 278
38. A Conservative Turn 286
39. Connected 294
40. The Past Asks More 302
Acknowledgments 310
Index 311