Part I: The basics: U.S. military organizations and their people
Military services, organizational integration, and civilian oversight
Those who serve and the uniforms they wear
Part II: The common defense and America's military
America's military: creation and early challenges
Fighting to preserve the Union: the Civil War and its aftermath
The military services in transition, 1880-1917
The common defense moves over there: World War I and its aftermath
Global expeditionary conflict, 1941-1945
The services' struggles for relevance in the atomic age, 1945-1949
Containment and the emergence of two militaries: the Cold War, 1950-1973
The military's revitalization and redemption: the Cold War, 1974-1991
Return to an expeditionary military, 1991-2001
The military the nation has, 2001-2017.
