This volume seeks to answer the question "What history should schools teach?" It makes a case for why the teaching of history is vital, and features an interpretation of both U.S. and world history. The chapter on U.S. history is organized into 14 units that correspond to major historical eras: (1) Three Worlds Meet (1450-1600); (2) The Colonial Era (1600-1754); (3) The Revolutionary Era (1754-1783); (4) Nation Building (1783-1815); (5) The Expanding Nation: The North (1815-1850); (6) The Expanding Nation: The Westward Movement (1815-1850); (7) The Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877); (8) The Second Industrial Revolution (1865-1900); (9) The Progressive Era (1900-1914); (10) The Emergence of the United States as a World Power and World War I (1890-1920); (11) The 1920s: A Decade of Prosperity and Problems; (12) The Depression and the New Deal (1929-1941); (13) World War II and the Cold War (1939-1961); and (14) The Recent United States (1961-Present). The materials in each unit are presented under three major topic headings. The first, Significance and Teaching Goals, argues the importance of the subject at hand and some of the most worthwhile goals to be sought in teaching it. The second heading, Major Topics, briefly outlines those topics and sub-topics around which the larger subject may be effectively organized. Finally, under the third heading, Major Topics and Their Development: Essential Understandings and Related Teacher Background, there appears a detailed and interpretive narrative, which is meant to serve as background to help teachers in framing their own interpretation and presentation. The units on world history are organized into the same format. They are: (1) The Beginnings of Civilization; (2) The Classical Civilizations of the Mediterranean World, India, and China (ca. 1000 B.C.-600 A.D.); (3) The Expansion of Agrarian Civilizations (ca. 600-1450 A.D.); (4) The Early Modern World (1450-1800 A.D.); (5) The World in the 19th Century; and (6) The World in the Contemporary Era. (DB)