| Introduction: To Catch Lightning in a Bottle | 15 |
| A |
| Henry Aaron: Gentle Giant of Baseball | 21 |
| Acoma, New Mexico: City in the Sky | 23 |
| Samuel Adams: Brewing Up a Revolution | 26 |
| Airstream Trailers: Heaven on a Trailer Hitch | 27 |
| Aladdin Lamps: Soft Light for Magical Evenings | 29 |
| All-Day Preaching and Dinner on the Grounds: Best Food and Friends This Side of Heaven | 31 |
| Alligators: Dragons of the Deep South | 32 |
| Appalachian Country Stores: Penny Candy and Mountain Music | 34 |
| Appalachian Spring: Music for Martha and the Mountains | 36 |
| Armadillo: Creature Designed by Rube Goldberg | 38 |
| Art Deco: Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow | 40 |
| B |
| Baked Beans: Surest Test of a New England Christian | 44 |
| Batman and Robin: Like a Bat out of Gotham City | 45 |
| Bean Suppers: With or Without the Beans | 48 |
| Jack Benny: Now, Cut That Out! | 50 |
| Blueberries: Wild Taste, Purple Tongue | 52 |
| Bluegrass: That Old Throw'd-Away Music | 53 |
| Humphrey Bogart: Play It Again, Bogie | 56 |
| Boston Tea Party: A Cup of Boston Harbor Water, Anyone? | 60 |
| Brooklyn Bridge: Say, Buddy, You Wanna Buy Dis Ding? | 61 |
| American Buffalo: Celebrating the American Bisontennial | 64 |
| Buffalo-Head Nickel: Five Cents' Worth of Freedom | 67 |
| Buffalo, New York: Hot Time in a Cold Town | 68 |
| C |
| Cape Hatteras Lighthouse: Old Man of the Outer Banks | 71 |
| Carlsbad Caverns: Journey to the Center of the Earth | 73 |
| Carnegie Deli: And If You're Hungry After the Show | 76 |
| Carnegie Hall: Cultural Delicatessen | 77 |
| George Washington Carver: Wizard of Tuskegee | 80 |
| Casablanca: Here's Looking at You, Kid | 83 |
| Celestial Seasonings Teas: Hot Cup of Heavenly Herbs | 86 |
| Chicago, Chicago: Emerald City of the Plains | 88 |
| Patsy Cline: Sweet Dreams for a Country Gal | 91 |
| Ty Cobb: Nobody's Peach | 93 |
| Coca-Cola: A Niagara of Coke | 95 |
| Calvin Coolidge: The President with Moxie | 98 |
| Aaron Copland: Fanfare for an Uncommon Man | 100 |
| Coyote: Call of the Wiles | 102 |
| Cranberries: Relishing an American Tradition | 104 |
| D |
| Daffy Duck: All-American Quack | 107 |
| Dagwood Sandwich: How to Build a Tasty Skyscraper | 109 |
| Dr Pepper: Doc Morrison's Tonic at 10, 2, and 4 | 110 |
| Drive-In Theaters: Last Triple Feature at the Bijou | 112 |
| E |
| Thomas Edison: Wizard of Menlo Park | 115 |
| Elvis Presley: All the King's Hits | 117 |
| Empire State Building: A Climb Fit for King Kong | 120 |
| F |
| Fallingwater: The Most Beautiful House on and of the Earth | 124 |
| Edmund Fitzgerald: Saga of a Doomed Lake Freighter | 125 |
| Frisbees: Identified Flying Objects | 129 |
| G |
| Georgia Peaches: Thomas Jefferson's Juicy Treat | 132 |
| Rube Goldberg: And His Wacky Machines | 134 |
| Golden Gate Bridge: Door to the West | 136 |
| Benny Goodman: King of Swing | 138 |
| Martha Graham: She Could Have Danced All Century | 141 |
| Grizzly Bear: Ursa Major, King of Grrrr | 143 |
| H |
| All-American Hamburgers: With Pickles, Mustard, Onions-the Works! | 146 |
| Harley-Davidson: The Bike with Lots of Vroom | 149 |
| John Henry: Legendary Steel-Driving Man | 151 |
| John Henry: Stretch-Driving Horse | 153 |
| Hominy Grits: Who Can Say How Many? | 157 |
| Hoover Dam: Pyramid of the Great Depression | 159 |
| I |
| Idaho Potatoes: Famous for Good Reason | 162 |
| Iditarod: The Call of Alaska's Wildest Dogsled Race | 164 |
| Ivory Soap: Bathtub Battleship from Ivorydale | 166 |
| J |
| Jack Daniel's: Smooth-as-Silk Sipping Whiskey | 168 |
| Chief Joseph's Last Stand: I Will Fight No More Forever | 169 |
| K |
| Kansas: There's No Place Like Home | 172 |
| Kalamazoo: From Here To ... | 174 |
| Kazoo: Hummer's Delight | 175 |
| L |
| Lake Superior: Gitchee Gumee--The Lake That Swallowed a Thousand Ships | 177 |
| Lindy Hop: It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing | 179 |
| Lionel Model Railroad: Last Train to Lilliput | 181 |
| Jack London: The Call of the Wild | 183 |
| Loon: An Uncommon American Species | 184 |
| M |
| Maine Coon: The Cat with the Raccoon Eyes | 188 |
| Mammoth Cave: Kentucky's Big Hole in the Ground | 189 |
| M&M's: Melt in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand | 191 |
| Model T Ford: Tin Lizzie Suited America to a T | 193 |
| Grandma Moses: Everybody's Granny | 196 |
| Moxie: America's Hardest Soft Drink | 198 |
| John Muir: Best Friend of Big Trees | 200 |
| All-American Mule: Get Up There, I Say | 202 |
| N |
| Navajo Rugs: On Spider Woman's Loom | 205 |
| New York City Bagels: A No-Holes-Barred Treat | 206 |
| Niagara Falls: Marriage of Waters | 208 |
| O |
| Old Hollywood: Dreamland, USA | 211 |
| Old Town Canoes: From the Rivers of the Maine Backwoods | 213 |
| Oz: Frank Baum's Wonderful Green Wizard | 215 |
| P |
| Paper-shell Pecans: They're Nuts About 'Em in Texas | 218 |
| Dorothy Parker: Little Nell's Vicious Circle | 219 |
| Parker House Rolls: A Baker's Dozen, Please | 222 |
| Pendleton Blankets: Warm Tributes to Native America | 223 |
| Lydia E. Pinkham Vegetable Compound: Gentlemen, Please Avert Your Eyes from the Following | 225 |
| Potbelly Stoves: Dippers, Chewers, and Whittlers with Potbellies | 226 |
| Pueblo Pottery: Cookware with a Two-Thousand-Year Guarantee | 228 |
| Q |
| Quiet Side: To the East of Down East | 231 |
| American Quilts: The Fabric of Time | 232 |
| R |
| Radio Flyer: Your Little Red Wagon | 235 |
| Raggedy Ann: Marcella's Floppy Girl | 236 |
| Rainbow Trout: The Flavor of Freedom | 238 |
| Redwood Trees: As Old as the Pyramids and Almost as Tall | 239 |
| Revell-Monogram Models: More Authentic than the Original | 242 |
| S |
| Santa Fe, New Mexico: City of Fire and Mud | 245 |
| Charles M. Schulz: Charlie Brown's Peanuts Gallery | 247 |
| Chief Seattle's Plea: How Can You Sell the Sky? | 249 |
| Sequoyah: The Man Who Made Leaves Talk | 251 |
| Statue of Liberty: Mother of Exiles | 254 |
| John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Great Men | 258 |
| Stetson Hats: Boss of the Plains | 261 |
| T |
| Tabasco: Hot as Hell Pepper Sauce | 264 |
| Texas Chili: Today, Hot Tamale | 265 |
| Henry David Thoreau: Walden's Lonely Drummer | 268 |
| Toll House Cookies: The Cookie Monster's Favorite | 270 |
| U |
| Johnny Unitas: All-American Times 47 | 272 |
| U.S. Constitution (Bill of Rights): Mr. Mason's List | 274 |
| USS Constitution: Wooden Ship with an Iron Will | 278 |
| V |
| Rudy Vallee: Your Time Is My Time | 281 |
| Vermont: Sharp Cheddar and Bitter Moxie | 282 |
| Victrola: His Master's Voice | 285 |
| W |
| Washington Memorial: Don't Miss the Point in D.C. | 287 |
| White Mountain Ice-Cream Freezers: If You Want the Best, Churn It Yourself | 289 |
| Hank Williams: Long Gone Lonesome Blues Singer | 291 |
| Gray Wolf: My, What Big Ears You Have | 294 |
| Nero Wolfe: World's Greatest-and Fattest-Detective | 295 |
| Frank Lloyd Wright: Bridging the Hills with Grace | 299 |
| Wurlitzer Jukeboxes: Put Another Nickel In | 302 |
| X |
| Xerox: The Billions That Nobody Wanted | 306 |
| The Man with X-Ray Eyes: Great Caesar's Ghost, It's Superman | 308 |
| Y |
| Yellowstone Park: Where Nature Picks Up Steam | 311 |
| Yogi: It Ain't Over Till It's Over | 313 |
| Z |
| Zinfandel: The Grape That Makes You Blush | 315 |
| National Zoo: Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh Yes! | 316 |
| Conclusion: Antique Cannon, Watermelon, and Fireflies | 319 |
