This brand new Handbook is an accessible and informative guide to American history and politics from the War of Independence to the present day. It covers political history including information on the Constitution, contains chronologies on major themes in social and religious history including: public health and social welfare; black American history; American Indians, the women's movement; pacifism and the anti-war movement; and offers key facts and figures in economic history, foreign affairs and defence. It also contains over two hundred biographies of key figures.