What justification do we give ourselves for studying history? "Historical study benefits us less as a guide to politics than as a goad to imagination." [xii] With our gaze ranging more widely through time and space, we develop a sense of possibilities. We free ourselves "from being enslaved by our era". This solid textbook about a "great" America, is intended to activate our vision, enabling each of us to tell the narrative of hope which has always driven the enlivened life.

Bottom line: The documents and personalities annihilate the Randian and Dixiecratic narratives which are now blistered across the privatized school system of America. ( )