not only tells the history of America—of its people and places, of its dealings and ideals—but it also unfolds the story of American democracy, carefully marking how this country's evolution has been anything but certain, from its complex beginnings to its modern challenges. This comprehensive survey focuses on the social and political lives of people—some famous, some ordinary—revealing the compelling story of America's democracy from an individual perspective, from across the landscapes of diverse communities, and ultimately from within the larger context of the world. covers the worlds of the Indian peoples and the arrival of the first Europeans, through emancipation and Reconstruction in the late nineteenth century.