From Pulitzer-winning social historian Kluger comes a reinterpretation of American history, a sweeping chronicle of how Americans extended their sovereignty from the Atlantic coastline to the mid-Pacific in the first 125 years of their national existence. The story reveals great accomplishments along with the American tendency to confuse success with heaven-sent entitlement. The nation's pioneer generations were blessed with remarkable energy, fortitude, and boundless faith in their own prowess. They were also grasping opportunists who justified their often brutal aggression by demeaning the humanity of nonwhites. These visionary nation-builders proclaimed earnestly, if not innocently, their own rectitude to be the force behind the heroic "taming" of the wilderness and saw in this triumph the hand of Providence. Their good fortune was thus transformed into a mission of entitlement--their "manifest destiny," as they began calling it well after the process was under way.--From publisher description.

An empty sack cannot stand upright (1500-1750) -- The poor Richards arise (1750-1776) -- Thinking large (1776-1782) -- The kings outfoxed (1782-1783) -- Owning the wilderness (1783-1800) -- For a nice little kingdom in Tuscany (1800-1803) -- Everything he does is rapid as lightning (1803) -- From motives of purest patriotism (1803-1823) -- Big drunk wins the day (1821-1836) -- Polking John Bull in the eye (1836-1847) -- The lost virtue of their better days (1846-1850) -- A wolf couldn't make a living on it (1850-1854) -- The great white elephant sale (1854-1867) -- Treachery in the tropics (1869-1902) -- The so-called mandate of mankind (1903-1999).