This text brings together a sampling of scholarship to determine the key issues preoccupying students of American history and to contemplate the discipline's direction for the future. The 15 summary essays review issues such as colonial America and US visual culture.

This text brings together a sampling of scholarship to determine the key issues preoccupying students of American history and to contemplate the discipline's direction for the future. The 15 summary essays are arranged in a general chronological order, and review historical scholarship in the US since the 1960s, the Age of Discovery, the American experience in the new world order, colonial America, the problem of freed slaves, and race in labour history. In addition, there are essays discussing new paradigms of urban history, law and American political development, race and gender in modern America, American religious history, narrative history, visual culture, the contribution of public history, and considerations of national culture and community.