USA

Shell-shocked - a phrase redolent of the Western Front and the Great War. But was it also a reality fifty years earlier on the killing fields of Virginia? John Talbott investigates.

Alan Taylor examines how the social concerns and ambitions of the new republic and those of the author of Last of the Mohicans intertwined - and how they gave him the canvas to become the United States' first great novelist.

Before the mid-1800s many Americans did not dream of Christmas at all. Penne Restad tells how and why this changed – and played its role in uniting the US in social cohesion.

Did America's far right plot against Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal - only to be foiled by a retired Marine Corps general? Clayton Cramer lifts the lid on an intriguing but little-known tale.

Gerard de Groot argues that exploitation of silent majority fears about 60s student protest is the key to understanding Ronald Reagan's rise to prominence in Californian politics.

Alonzo Hamby considers Harry Truman's First World War experiences and explores the dilemmas that influenced his decision to drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Glen Jeansonne outlines how US involvement radically transformed American culture and society.

Louise Stevenson argues that girls growing up in mid-19th-century America were far more intellectually forceful and streetwise than often given credit for.

How did Hollywood screenwriter Frank Capra get involved in the sort of film projects that in his and other hands filled a generation of American servicemen with a fundamentalist world view? James Gilbert offers an explanation.