Shaping the spirit of America; [electronic resource] articles from Harper's and Century magazines recalling events and times that helped determine the present national image of the United States of America. Compiled by Thomas C. Jones. Color reproductions of paintings by Frederic Remington and Winslow Homer.

Social life in the colonies / Edward Eggleston -- The father of American libraries / Bunford Samuel -- The birth of the American army / Horace Kephart -- The end of foreign dominion in Louisiana -- Laurels of the American tar in 1812 / Edgar S. Maclay -- General Sam Houston / Alexander Hynds -- Life in California before the gold discovery / John Bidwell -- The first emigrant train to California / John Bidwell -- Pioneer days in San Francisco / John Williamson Palmer -- Horses of the plains / written and illustrated by Frederic Remington -- The winter lakes, a poem / William Wilfred Campbell -- How Lincoln was nominated / Frank B. Carpenter -- A reception by President Lincoln / C. Van Santvoord -- To-day, a poem / Milicent Washburn Shinn -- The West Point of the Confederacy / John S. Wise -- The story of the assassination of President Lincoln and the pursuit of the assassins / John G. Nicolay and John Hay -- Pursuit and death of John Wilkes Booth / Major M.B. Ruggles -- Stray leaves from a whaleman's log / James Temple Brown -- Ranch life in the far West / Theodore Roosevelt -- Mark Twain / W.D. Howells -- Frontier types / Theodore Roosevelt -- Besieged by the Utes, the Massacre of 1879 / E.V. Sumner -- On a blank leaf in "The marble faun", a poem / Elia W. Peattie -- The oldest club in America / Robert Adams, Jr. -- The American game of foot-ball / Alexander Johnston -- The strange days that came to Jimmie Friday / Frederic Remington -- The song of Pan, a poem / Archibald Lampman -- Picturesque New York / M.G. Van Rensselaer -- Game-fishes of the Florida reef / C.F. Holder -- Illusions, a poem / Robert Underwood Johnson -- Black water and shallows / Frederic Remington.