Profiles are organized around a movement, event, or profession that has had a significant, lasting impact on American history and contemporary life. Essential biographical information is included for each figure, but the heart of each profile describes the critical achievements and contributions of the individual under consideration and assesses the subject's significance, not only in the context of the person's own lifetime, but in the broader sweep of American history.

Placing each figure's achievements and contributions in a historical context makes each profile the ideal source for preparing reports. Students can use this framework as a basis for comparisons and contrasts, which will give them a better understanding of how individuals shape, and are shaped by, the times in which they live.-- Washington Irving-- James Fenimore Cooper-- Edgar Allan Poe-- Nathaniel Hawthorne-- Herman Melville-- Henry David Thoreau-- Walt Whitman-- Emily Dickinson-- Mark Twain-- Stephen Crane.