For thirty years American Heritage magazine has been telling America's story in fresh and vivid articles tht ahve come to represent the best of responsible popular history. In this fascinating book, the editors of "American Heritage" have combed through every issue to find the most entertaining and illuminating pieces. The result--by turns stirring, moving, funny, evocative, horrifying--is an unusually revealing informal history of American civilization from the first settlements to the close of the 20th century.