The USA 1900 - 1945 has been developed especially for senior secondary students of History and is part of the Nelson Modern History series. Each book in the series is based on the understanding that History is an interpretive study of the past by which students also come to better appreciate the making of the modern world. Developing understandings of the past and present in senior History extends on the skills learnt in earlier years. Senior students will use historical skills, including research, evaluation, synthesis, analysis and communication. Students will rely on their knowledge of the historical concepts such as evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, significance, empathy, perspectives and contestability, to understand and interpret societies from the past. The activities and tasks have been written to ensure that students develop the skills and attributes required for senior History subjects. This study of the United States of America from the early 20th century to the end of World War II explores a variety of themes using a rich range of primary visual and text sources and recent historiography. Included in the text are detailed considerations of American capitalism, social and cultural developments in literature and the arts, race relations and the experience of the 'Jazz Age', the Great Depression, and the impact of war.