Includes bibliographical references

v. 1. Rendezvous with destiny, 1932-1941 -- The cruelest year -- Depression montage -- Roosevelt! -- Portrait of an American : Eleanor -- Stirrings -- Mid-thirties montage -- The Roosevelt Referendum -- Portrait of an American : stockbroker Richard Whitney -- The conservative Phoenix -- Late thirties montage -- A shadow of primitive terror -- Portrait of an American : Norman Thomas -- Through the night with a light from above -- Montage : the last of prewar America -- America on the brink -- Sacrifice and transformation, 1941-1950 -- Counterattack -- Pacific montage -- The Home Front -- Home Front montage -- Lilacs in the dooryard -- ETO montage -- A new world, under a new sun -- Portrait of an American : The Redhead -- The fraying flags of triumph -- Postwar montage -- Life with Harry -- A little touch of Harry in the night -- Late forties montage -- The age of suspicion -- Portrait of an American : Edward Roscoe Murrow -- Into the abyss -- Early fifties montage -- Sowing the wind, 1951-1960 -- A house divided -- Right turn -- Montage : the early Eisenhower years -- What was good for General Motors -- Portrait of an American : Norma Jean Baker --

v. 2. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman -- Montage : the mid-fifties -- With all deliberate speed --- The pursuit of happiness -- Montage : Eisenhower at flood tide -- Beep beep -- Portrait of an American : The Edsel --The crusade falters -- Late fifties montage -- Tattoo for the General -- Reaping the whirlwind, 1961-1968 -- A new generation of Americans -- Montage : the early sixties -- Now the trumpet summoned us again -- Portrait of an artist : Peter Carl Goldmark -- Don't let it be forgot -- Montage : JFK/LBJ -- The long arm -- A dream of greatness, and disenchantment -- Montage : the Johnson years -- Up against the wall -- Portrait of an American : Karl Hess III -- The year everything went wrong -- Montage : the late sixties -- Nixon, after all, 1969-1972 -- The rise of the Silent Majority -- Portrait of an American : Benjamin McLane Spock, M.D. -- Nattering nabobs -- Early seventies montage -- The divided states of America -- Portrait of an American : Ralph Nader -- Pride goeth -- Epilogue : echoes