Formative influences on adult education in America -- Part 1: Adult education in early America -- Informal and literary endeavors -- The evolution of regulated access -- Part 2: The early National and Antebellum eras -- Education's role in building the New Republic -- The spread of literacy -- The "elaborate experiments" -- Education and labor -- Developing the "true woman" -- Education and minorities -- Part 3: Adult education in an era of modernization -- Preparing for civic and work life -- Challenging the limits to advancement and mobility -- Supporting the new industrial and urban order -- Part 4: The nation amid crisis and recovery -- Ordering knowledge for the American public -- Education's role in addressing unfinished agendas -- Educational responses to national emergencies -- Part 5: America at the peak of world power -- Entering the age of adult education -- Adult education's critical and conserving functions -- Crafting a national agenda for adult education -- Conclusion: Becoming responsive to the needs of all learners.