Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of the United States, this work provides wide coverage of social and cultural history. The authors look at how colonial taverns not only served as places to socialize but also became hotbeds for political action before the American Revolution; they explore how the rise of baseball served to equalize whites of different classes but exacerbated racial tension through segregated leagues; and they explore the rise of rock and roll and the "youth culture" of the 1950s as a reaction to the conservative culture.