This reference focuses on processes and people - how they chose sites for towns and built their homes, how they led their lives, how they modified and were modified by their physical surroundings. Race, gender, ethnicity, work, culture, technology, education, and family history are included.

Spanning the era from the end of Reconstruction (1877) to 1920, the entries of this reference were chosen with attention to the people, events, inventions, political developments, organizations, and other forces that led to significant changes in the U.S. in that era. Seventeen initial stand-alone essays describe as many themes, including technology.

Providing essays on the history, culture and current status of approximately 400 Native American groups, this work is divided into four geographic volumes. An overview essay introduces each of the ten regions covered, giving a geographic perspective on the tribes covered, as well as insights on cultural and tribal communalities. Individual tribal entries follow alphabetically. Also featured are biographical profiles of prominent tribal leaders.

In 800+ analytical articles, explores developments in the literature, thought, music, and art that influenced the profound changes in thought and sensibility during the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century.