Surveys United States history from Reconstruction to the present. Focuses on the role of the United States among the community of nations and on the ideas and events that have shaped the development of our culture, government and institutions since 1865. Examines the following themes: Reconstruction, industrialization and its effects on American society, immigration and urbanization, progressivism, World War I, social and cultural changes of the Twenties, the Great Depression and the New Deal, World War II, postwar affluence and social change, the Cold War and its end, the civil rights movement, Watergate, the Reagan Revolution, and the war on terrorism. Introduces techniques of historical research and critical writing about the modern history of the United States.