First published 2003
America begins with enslaved people and Puritan settlers. The nation grows through revolution and expansion, then tears itself apart in Civil War. Slaves win freedom, but segregation follows. Industrialists like Henry Ford reshape the economy while oil wells transform the landscape. Leaders from Thomas Jefferson to William Jefferson Clinton guide the country through wars, from the Revolutionary conflict to Vietnam. Reformers like Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King fight discrimination. Feminism challenges old traditions. Entertainment evolves from simple pleasures to Disneyland spectacles. Orson Welles creates new art forms. Three expert historians present this sprawling story across 84 lectures, each focusing on their specialty. They show how people, inventions, ideas, and events combined to create modern America. The series covers the full arc from colonial settlements to contemporary times.
Genres: history, 20th-century, american, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, social-change
Setting: United States
Period: Colonial, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Reconstruction, Industrialization, Civil Rights Movement
44 pages · Audio CD · The Teaching Company
Content warnings: racism, slavery