Includes index.

A social history of the United States with tales of the everyday people and events that shaped the nation, from colonial days to the Internet era. Sections include: the colonial years and the birth of a new nation; the march of the 19th century, from pioneers' covered wagons to nation-spanning railroads; America's love affair with the open road, from the horseless carriage to the superhighway; and television and the world it simultaneously reflects and shapes. Other essays look at the pivotal eras of our past, from the American Revolution to the Industrial Revolution to the cultural revolution called the Sixties, and the Internet culture of today.