The Limits of Liberty


The Limits of Liberty: American History 1607-1980 is a book by historian Maldwyn Jones, first published in 1983 in the Short Oxford History of the Modern World series.
It covers 373 years of American history and is the most comprehensive single-authored book on this topic, taking nearly 20 years for the author to complete.

Contents

The book contains 28 chapters, as well as an extensive bibliography, 15 pages of historical maps, population tables, details of presidential elections and a list of justices of the Supreme Court.

Chapters

  1. Colonial Foundations, 1607–1760
  2. Provincial Expansion, 1700–1763
  3. Revolution and Independence, 1763–1783
  4. The Revolutionary Transformation, 1776–1789
  5. The Federalist Age, 1789–1801
  6. Jeffersonian Republicanism, 1801–1824
  7. The Expanding Union, 1815–1860
  8. The Politics of Egalitarianism, 1824–1844
  9. Social and Cultural Ferment, 1820–1860
  10. Westward Expansion and Sectional Conflict, 1844–1850
  11. The Road to Secession, 1850–1861
  12. The Civil War, 1861–1865
  13. Reconstruction, 1865–1877
  14. The New South and the Negro, 1877–1914
  15. Taming the West, 1865–1900
  16. The Growth of an Industrial Economy, 1865–1914
  17. Society and Culture in the Industrial Era, 1860–1910
  18. Politics from Conservatism to Revolt, 1877–1896
  19. The Progressive Era, 1900–1917
  20. The United States and World Affairs, 1865–1914
  21. The United States and the First World War, 1914–1920
  22. After the War, 1919–1929
  23. The Great Depression 1929-1939
  24. Foreign Policy between the Wars, 1921–1941
  25. Global War, 1941–1945
  26. Cold War Tensions, 1945–1960
  27. The Troubled Years, 1960–1980
  28. American Society and Culture, 1940–1980