The American Experiment · the Vineyard of Liberty, the Workshop of Democracy, and the Crosswinds of Freedom

A Pulitzer Prize winner’s “immensely readable” history of the United States from FDR’s election to the final days of the Cold War ( Publishers Weekly ).

The Crosswinds of Freedom is an articulate and incisive examination of the United States during its rise to become the world’s sole superpower. Here is a young democracy transformed by the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Cold War, the rapid pace of technological change, and the distinct visions of nine presidents. Spanning fifty-six years and touching on many corners of the nation’s complex cultural tapestry, Burns’s work is a remarkable look at the forces that gave rise to the “American Century.”