In The Sum of Our Dreams, Louis P. Masur offers a sweeping yet compact history of America from its beginnings to the current moment. For general readers seeking an accessible, single-volume account, one that challenges but does not overwhelm, and which distills and connects the major events and figures in the country's past in a single narrative, here is that book. Evoking Barack Obama's belief that America remains the "sum of its dreams," Masur locates the origin of those dreams-of freedom, equality, and opportunity-and traces their progress chronologically, illuminating the nation's struggle over time to articulate and fulfill their promise. Moving from the Colonial Era, to the Revolutionary Period, the Early Republic, and through the Civil War, Masur turns his attention to Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Age, World War One, the Great Depression, World War Two, the Cold War, Civil Rights, Vietnam, and Watergate, and then laying out clearly and concisely what underlies the divisiveness that has characterized American civic life over the last forty years-and now more than ever. Above all, however, Masur lets the story of American tell itself. Inspired by James Baldwin's observation that "American history is longer, larger, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it," he expands our notion of that history while identifying its individual threads. The Sum of Our Dreams will be the new go-to single volume for anyone wanting a foundational understanding of the nation's past, and its present.

Louis P. Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He is the author of many books, including The Civil War: A Concise History, The Soiling of Old Glory, and Lincoln's Last Speech. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Slate and he lectures around the country for One Day University.

Prologue: "Land of Hope and Dreams"
Chapter 1: To Plant and to Conquer
Virginia
Massachusetts
New York
Native Americans
Seven Years War
Chapter 2: If Men Were Angels
Revolution
Constitution
Political Parties
War of 1812
Missouri Compromise
Chapter 3: Empire of Liberty
Nullification
Revival
Removal
Mexican-American War
Westward Course of Empire
Chapter 4: A Higher Law
Compromise
Abolition
Bleeding Kansas
Dred Scott
John Brown's Raid
Chapter 5: Government of the People
Secession
Civil War
Emancipation
Home Fronts
Reconstruction
Chapter 6: Survival of the Fittest
Corruption
Competition
Cooperation
Frontiers
Imperialism

Chapter 7: Land of Promise
Immigration
Progressivism
Segregation
Socialism
World War I
Chapter 8: This New Battle
Prohibition
Depression
Dust Bowl
New Deal
WW II
Chapter 9: Blowin' in the Wind
Consumerism
Cold War
Civil Rights
Counterculture
Vietnam
Chapter 10: Government is the Problem
Watergate
The Great Inflation
New Right
New Democrat
New World Order
Chapter 11: The Change That We Seek
War on Terror
Globalization
Vote for Change
Social Media
American Ideals
Epilogue: "Let America Be America Again"