In the dramatic period from 1800 through 1850, the United States went from a tiny newborn nation on the Atlantic seaboard to a near-empire that spanned the continent. But America's path to nationhood was vastly more complex than the tidily packaged national myth of a destiny made manifest by visionary political leaders and fearless pioneers. In A Nation Rising, bestselling author Kenneth C. Davis offers fascinating, intertwining stories about historical episodes whose great issues—ambition, power, territorial expansion, slavery, intolerance, civil rights, freedom of the press—reverberate to this day, including:

Aaron Burr's 1807 trial, culminating in one of our nation's first media circuses

The 1813 Indian uprising and ensuing massacre, exposing the powerful conflicts at the heart of America's expansion

The mutiny aboard the slave ship Creole, illustrating how the institution of slavery both destroyed lives and warped our nation's founding

The bloody "Bible Riots" in Philadelphia, erupting in an early episode of deadly anti-immigrant sentiment

Eye-opening history and riveting storytelling, A Nation Rising is a powerful reminder of the ways in which our past continues to shape our present.