Every nation's past is prologue to its present, and every nation's story unfolds in its own way. In this book, a native Englishman and long-time resident of the United States, proposes four defining narratives that have helped fashion the nation's progression toward "becoming America."
- westward expansion, and a fascination for the moving frontier;- hunger for land, reflected in national expansion through nineteenth-century geopolitical acquisitions, and the desire of individual Americans to grab their own piece of territory, leading to the iconic Homestead Act of 1862;
- the land-grant college movement, culminating in Justin Morrill's 1862 landmark legislation, representing a shift away from higher education dominated by religious imperatives to a more secular model, with significant state sponsorship;
- the GI Bill of Rights, enacted in 1944 for servicemen and women returning from WW II, and which provided (among other benefits) a free college education for millions of veterans. These four themes are brought together through the uniquely American phenomenon of college football.