The grand drama of American history is covered for middle school and high school students, starting with Columbus's landing, and continuing through European colonization, United States independence, and the nation's development and growth to become the leading world power. This edition has been updated to include important events of the twenty-first century.

Titles in Barron's Painless Series are written especially for middle school and high school students who are having a difficult time with a specific subject. In many cases, a student is confused by the subject's complexity and details. Still other students simply finds a subject uninteresting, an attitude that usually results in lower grades. Painless titles offer informal, student-friendly approaches to each subject, emphasizing interesting details, supplementing the text with amusing insights, and outlining potential pitfalls clearly and step by step. Students begin to understand how disparate details all fit together to form a clear picture. Timelines, ideas for interesting projects, and "Brain Tickler" quizzes in many of these titles help to take the pain out of study and improve each student's grades.