Inventing America: A History of the United States Second Edition Pauline Maier … [et al.] From the Preface Inventing America is a mainstream textbook with a difference: instead of an encyclopedic survey it is a text enhanced by a compelling theme… the initial response to the book's publication in 2003 confirmed the need for such a book in the U.S. survey course. .. Inventing America traces the theme of innovation in American life. Tocqueville articulated this theme well in this assessment of how Americans approach their affairs: "To escape form the spirit of system, from yoke of habits, from family maxims, from class opinions… ; to take tradition only as information and currents facts only as a useful study for doing otherwise and better…" In connection with the innovation theme Inventing America closely charts the material dimension of American history. Tracing the large transformations In the material life of Americans - housing, diet, health, childbearing… the rise of cities and suburbs, the automobile… we explore the relationships among innovation, material development, and everyday life… Many significant developments in American history cannot be considered innovative or the result of innovation, and these must be and are part of our story. And Americans are not uniquely innovative… many of the ideas and approaches applied here originated elsewhere. Nor do we count all of the new departure Americans have taken as positive: we explore a number of social, political, and economic initiatives that have brought unfortunate consequences… We find the innovation theme to be a useful device for integrating the social and the political, the material and the cultural, in American life… In this Second Edition of Inventing America, we have strengthened the theme of innovation in American history as it applies to politics, society the economy and culture.… we have kept the book abreast of the latest and best research in the field… The book is now organized into eight multi-chapter Parts, each one with an introduction that sets out the broad themes that infuse the chapters. The Part introductions also explore the applications of the innovation theme in the events and developments of the period...