Opening volleys. US ambassador's reaction to Austria's ultimatum ; Germany's appeal to the Americans ; US report on German atrocities in Belgium ; US statements on the status of armed merchant vessels ; US "strict accountability" warning to Germany ; The sinking of the Lusitania ; US reaction to Allied protest regarding German submarines ; Wilson's "Peace without victory" address ; The British prime minister on America's entry into the war ; The German chancellor on the prospect of war with the United States ; The French prime minister on America's entry in the war ; Former President Taft on America's entry into the war ; The US Press Office on actions by US naval destroyers ; Germany's Crown Prince Wilhelm's assessment of US troops -- A range of reactions. War increases toy soldier sales ; Resolutions adopted by the International Congress of Women ; The failure of German-Americanism ; War is "a blessing, not a curse" -- the case for why we must fight ; A Nebraska senator opposes US entry into the war ; The Espionage Act of 1917 ; Walter Lippmann on the war and American democracy ; America first, now and hereafter ; The unity of America ; German enemy of US hanged by mob ; Remarks by Scott Nearing at his trial ; The Sedition Act of 1918 ; No Negroes allowed -- Outside influences. Report on Armenian genocide ; US-Mexico tensions ; The Zimmerman telegram ; US participation in the Archangel Expedition in Russia -- War preparedness. President Woodrow Wilson: "Do your bit for America" ; A labor leader on military conscription ; The use of US railroads during wartime ; A survey of American war readiness ; The Railway Control Act -- Combat maneuvers. US ambassador's report of German retreat in France ; On the Paris gun ; The battle of Cantigny ; The battle of Belleau Wood ; The second battle of the Marne -- Soldier's stories. Personal letter of a driver at the front ; A Marine flyer in France ; A Marine corporal's war diary ; Ernest Hemingway's return from the Italian front ; The story of a black infantry unit ; A soldier's letters home ; Diary of a soldier on the front lines in France ; Letter from a private in the Expeditionary Force ; Letters home by a supply officer ; Diary of an artillery soldier at the end of the war ; Armistice: the end of the war ; Diary of an ordnance officer assigned to postwar "cleanup" -- Medical realities. The first gas attack ; The effects of shell shock ; Diary of an Army private at a base hospital ; The high road to self-support ; An Army physician on the 1918 flu pandemic -- A new world. Wilson's Fourteen Points ; John Dewey: "The social possibilities of war" -- Appendixes. Chronological list ; Web resources ; Bibliography ; Index.