This historical survey aims to balance social and cultural issues with political and diplomatic. It sets out to help the instructor to organize his or her course in many different ways, confident that the text will support the topics discussed in class and provide students with the ideal book for self-study. This edition includes historiographical debates, new attention to native American history and revised sections on women's history. Over the past four editions, Brinkley has completely rewritten the narrative for clarity and currency. In this revision, he has cut the book back by 5-10 per cent to accomodate new material without increasing the length of the book. "Where historians disagree" boxes aim to provide a sense of historiography, exploring how historians do their work and how their work influences our perspectives on the past. The new final chapter covers the end of the Reagon-Bush administration and the new Democratic administration.