Readers of this book will meet some of the most interesting, important, and memorable characters in American history—men and women whose stories are expertly and beautifully recounted in these pages. But they will also see reflected and illuminated in these lives great forces and momentous issues, the passions and motives and movements that have shaped our country. The authors' approach humanizes what might have been lifeless abstractions, showing how the largest of matters can touch and change the lives of individuals and how individuals can give life and voice to things bigger than themselves.