With as much chronology and detail as possible, this class on United States history looks at how the nation evolved from a European colony to a world power. There is no flinching in its presentation of events, from the uncomfortable truths that brought this evolution about. This survey of America’s past involves neither undue celebration nor condemnation, and it makes every effort to avoid elevating into myth or demonizing into infamy any of the principal figures who contributed to America’s current stature. All students are welcome to their individual ideologies and political convictions, but it is preferable that their thinking not be fixed upon them. The goal for this class is not to tell students what to think but to expose them to and perhaps even get them to relish the complexities of American history, so that each student leaves this course with enduring curiosities rather than comfortable certainties about the past.