The global powerhouse that is the United States of America is younger even than the British Museum, Guinness and the flushing toilet. In 2026 it will celebrate its 250th birthday. How did this vast land, long inhabited by diverse indigenous cultures, come to be dominated by English speakers? How has it grappled with the stark contradictions between its ideals of liberty and the grim reality of genocide and slavery? This collection of fifty distinct states has weathered immense – and recent – challenges, including a Civil War that was still raging as the first London Underground station opened. How did this melting pot of peoples and ideas not only endure but rise to dominate global politics, commerce, culture and warfare? What insights does this history offer about an increasingly divided nation – and the world that moves to its rhythm?