| Volume 1: The New World | |
| Editor's Note to the Updated Edition | 5 |
| Introduction by Allan Nevinvs | 8 |
| Chapter 1. Europe Moves West | 10 |
| Chapter 2. Colonies for All | 36 |
| Chapter 3. The English Colonies | 62 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The Spanish Conquest | 23 |
| - The Pilgrims' Europe | 49 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Thomas F. McGann - The Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca | 82 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E1 |
| Volume 2: Colonial America | |
| Chapter 4. The Colonies Grow | 94 |
| Chapter 5. Struggle for Power | 122 |
| Chapter 6. Seeds of Revolution | 150 |
| Secial picture portfolios: | |
| - The French and Indian Wars | 109 |
| - Life in Colonial America | 137 |
| Special contributor: | |
| A. L. Rowse - the Pilgrim and Puritan Fathers | 170 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E38 |
| Volume 3: The Revolution | |
| Chapter 7. Rabble in Arms | 184 |
| Chapter 8. Cockpit of Battle | 208 |
| Chapter 9. Revolution within | 244 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The Declaration of Independence | 197 |
| - The Arms and the Men | 227 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - George F. Scheer - Francis Marion: The Elusive Swamp Fox | 260 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E75 |
| Volume 4: A New Nation | |
| Chapter 10. Men and Opportunity | 274 |
| Chapter 11. Washingtor at the Helm | 300 |
| Chapter 12. The Republican Era | 332 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - Thomas Jefferson | 291 |
| - The War at Sea | 317 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Oliver Jensen - The Many-Faceted Mr. Peale | 350 |
| Encyclopeic Section | E112 |
| Volume 5: Young America | |
| Chapter 13. Nationalism Rampant | 364 |
| Chapter 14. The Jacksonians | 390 |
| Chapter 15. Sinews of a Nation | 422 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - Stirrings of Industry | 377 |
| - New Roads - The Waterways | 407 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Arnold Whitridge - Eli Whitney: Nemesis of the South | 442 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E149 |
| Volume 6: The Frontier | |
| Chapter 16. Moving West | 454 |
| Chapter 17. Crusades and Culture | 486 |
| Chapter 18. Opening of the West | 510 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The Great Gold Rush | 469 |
| - Indians of the Plains | 497 |
| Special contributor | |
| - Stephen W. Sears - Jedediah S. Smith: Unsung Pathifnder of the West | 530 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E186 |
| Volume 7: War with Mexico | |
| Chapter 19. The Curtain Raiser | 544 |
| Chapter 20. The "Southern Problem" | 580 |
| Chapter 21. The Road to Disunion | 608 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - War in the West | 561 |
| - Whalers and Clippers | 589 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Gerald W. Johnson - Daniel Webster: Great Man Eloquent | 620 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E223 |
| Volume 8: The Civil War | |
| Chapter 22. The War Comes | 634 |
| Chapter 23. Road to Victory | 666 |
| Chapter 24. Reconstruction | 696 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - President Lincoln | 655 |
| - The Naval War | 685 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Bruce Catton - "Hayfoot, Strawfoot!" | 712 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E260 |
| Volume 9: Winning th West | |
| Chapter 25. Search for El Dorado | 724 |
| Chapter 26. Cattlemen and Homesteaders | 758 |
| Chapter 27. Taming the Wild West | 790 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - Cowboys - Life on the Range | 741 |
| - The Last Wars with the Indians | 777 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Stewart H. Holdbrook - The Legend of Jim Hill | 802 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E297 |
| Volume 10: Age of Steel | |
| Chapter 28. Industrial America | 814 |
| Chapter 29. Agriculture, Adversity, and Agitation | 844 |
| Chapter 30. The Politics of Economic Growth | 874 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - Make Way for the Iron Horse! | 831 |
| - The Robber Barons | 861 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - John A. Garraty - William Jennings Bryan | 890 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E334 |
| Volume 11: The Gilded Age | |
| Chapter 31. Wealth and its World | 904 |
| Chapter 32. The City's Giddy Whirl | 930 |
| Chapter 33. Machine-Age Culture | 958 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The Romantic World of Currier and Ives | 919 |
| - The Victorian Look | 947 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Nelson Lansdale - Mrs. Gardner and Her Palace | 978 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E371 |
| Volume 12: A World Power | |
| Chapter 34. "A Splendid Little War" | 994 |
| Chapter 35. America as a World Power | 1024 |
| Chapter 36. Twentieth-Century America | 1048 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The Spanish-American War | 1013 |
| - The City Goes Modern | 1037 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Robert L. Heilbroner - Andrew Carnegie: Epitaph for the Steelmaster | 1070 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E408 |
| Volume 13: World War | |
| Chapter 37. The Great Crusade | 1084 |
| Chapter 38. The Businessman's Government | 1118 |
| Chapter 39. The Roaring Twenties | 1146 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The War in the Air | 1105 |
| - America as Advertised | 1135 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Allan Nevins -Henry Ford: A Complex Man | 1162 |
| Encyclopedi Section | E445 |
| Volume 14: The Roosevelt Era | |
| Chapter 40. Depression and a New Deal | 1174 |
| Chapter 41. Year by Year, 1929-1939 | 1208 |
| Chapter 42. Relief and Reform | 1238 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - F. D. R. | 1187 |
| - The Artist's America | 1227 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Merlo J. Pusey - F. D. R. vs. the Supreme Court | 1252 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E482 |
| Volume 15: World War II | |
| Chapter 43. Background for War | 1264 |
| Chapter 44. From Pearl Harbor to Berlin and Tokyo | 1290 |
| Chapter 45. The Home and Diplomatic Fronts | 1332 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - D-Day | 1275 |
| - The United Nations | 1311 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - One Who Survived - The Narrative of Allen Heyn | 1340 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E519 |
| Volume 16: Decades of Cold War | |
| Chapter 46. Rebuilding a World in Ruins | 1354 |
| Chapter 47. The Cold War Heats Up | 1384 |
| Chapter 48. The Torch has been Passed | 1414 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - A Revolution in American Art | 1365 |
| - That's Entertainment | 1395 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - William T. Leuchtenburg - John F. Kennedy, Twenty Years Later | 1428 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E556 |
| Volume 17: The Vietnam Era | |
| Chapter 49. Escalation and Quagmire | 1444 |
| Chapter 50. The Nixon Years | 1472 |
| Chapter 51. The Onrush of Technology | 1502 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - Vietnam: The War in Color | 1459 |
| - The World of Outer Space | 1485 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Walter Karp - Looking Back on Watergate: The Hour of the Founders | 1518 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E593 |
| Volume 18: America Today | |
| Chapter 52. Changes in Doctrine at Home and Abroad | 1534 |
| Chapter 53. The March of Events, the Challenge of Tomorrow | 1560 |
| Special picture portfolios: | |
| - The New China | 1553 |
| - America Celebrates | 1577 |
| Special contributor: | |
| - Richard B. Morris - A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | 1588 |
| Encyclopedic Section | E630 |
| Index of the Complete Series | E630 |