He portrays the amazing growth after World War II, the great building boom epitomized by Levittown (the largest such development in history) and the baby boom (which exploded literally nine months after V-J Day), as well as the resultant buoyancy of spirit reflected in everything from streamlined toasters, to big, flashy cars, to the soaring, butterfly roof of TWA's airline terminal in New York. And he shows how this upbeat, can-do mood spurred grander and grander expectations as the era progressed. Of course, not all Americans shared in this economic growth, and an important thread running through the book is a depiction of the civil rights movement, from the Brown v. Board of Education decision, to the confrontations in Little Rock, Birmingham, and Selma, to the civil rights acts of 1964 and 1965.