Born in the struggles of empires: the American republic in war and revolution, 1789-1815 -- Commerce pervades the world: economic connections and disconnections -- The beacon of improvement: political and social reform -- People in motion: nineteenth-century migration experiences -- Unwilling immigrants and diaspora dreams -- Racial and ethnic frontiers -- America's Civil War and its world historical implications -- How culture travelled: going abroad, c. 1865-1914 -- Building the nation-state in the Progressive Era: the transnational context -- The empire that did not know its name -- The new world order in the era of Woodrow Wilson -- Forces of integration: war and the coming of the American century, 1925-1970 -- Insular impulses: limits on international integration, 1925 to 1970 -- From the 1970s to new globalization: American transnational power and its limits, 1971-2001 -- Epilogue: "Nothing will ever be the same": 9/11 and the return of history.