Eight epochs of American folk heritage are covered in this collection: Chapter I The Colonial Period (The British Heritage and Colonial Songs and Ballads); Chapter II The American Revolution; Chapter III The Early National Period; Chapter IV Jacksonian America (Sea and Immigration, The Westward Movement, and Slavery Days); Chapter V The Civil War (Freedom Songs); Chapter VI Between the Civil War and the First World War (Farmers and Workers, Immigrants, and The Negro People); Chapter VII Between Two World Wars; and Chapter VIII Since the War. General introductions to each chapter and specific introductions to individual songs provide the context from which the songs were created. The book is the result of years of classroom teaching. An Afterword (written especially for this new edition) indicates the usefulness of "Ballad of America "for social studies, humanities, and literature teachers at all levels. The bibliography and discography, brought up to date for this 1982 edition, indicate resources available to the student or teacher interested in probing more deeply into the musical resources of any given period."