本书同其他一些美国政治思想读物的一个不同之处，是它不仅编选了主流思想家、政治家的名篇，还收进了诸如马尔科姆·X这类激进思想家的言论。但正如艾萨克所指出的，即使处于异端的美国左翼思想家，也大都排斥社会主义和共产主义思想，而只是从左的方面去批评当政者违背了美国赖以建国的自由主义传统。

Part 1 The Colonial Era through the Civil War
1.The Colonial Mind:From Religious to Political Autonomy
2.American Values and Pragmatic Self-Sufficiency
3.Individual Rights and the Declaration of Independence
4.The Constiution:Constructive Conservatism and Its Critics
5.Federalism and Constitutional law
6.Jacksonian Democracy
7.Transcendental Individualism
8.Neglected Voices:Women and Native Americans
Part 2 Reconstruction through World War II
1.The American Dream
2.The American Reality for Women and Native Americans
3.Visions of Progress
4.The Frontier,the State,and War
5.The Power of Wealth
6.The Powerless
7.New Nationalism,New Freedom,and Progressivism
8.Management versus the Gospel of Socialism
9.Individualism,Materialism,and Idealism
10.Conservative Critics of Democratic Liberalism
11.Corporations,Society,and the State
Part 3 The Contemporary Era