Topics include: the economics of the Civil War, the performance of southern agriculture in the late 19th century, the rise of large corporations, industrialization, the development of financial markets, the creation of the Federal Reserve Board, the economics of the Great Depression and the New Deal, the economic impact of World War II, and the rise of the modern service economy in the late 20th century. Utilizes basic economic theories to understand these episodes as well as the progress of the U.S. economy over this period.