This new book examines major themes, personalities and issues across American history, using topic focused essays. Each chapter focuses on key events and time periods within a broad framework looking at liberty and equality, the role of government and national identity. The volume engages with its central themes through a broad ranging examination of aspects of the American past, including discussions of political history, foreign policy, presidential leadership and the construction of national memory. In each essay, Simon Henderson: introduces fresh angles to traditional topics; consolidates recent research in themed essays; analyses views of different historians; offers an interpretive rather than narrative approach; and gives concise treatment to complex issues. Including an introduction which places key themes in context, this book enables readers to make comparisons and trace major thematic developments across American history.