Belmonte's SPEAKING OF AMERICA is a two-volume course reader that exposes college students to a variety of sources on United States history, from the colonial era to the present day. The collection includes a wide array of primary documents, poems, short stories, song lyrics, monograph and article excerpts, and news accounts encompassing multicultural and regional perspectives. The selected readings address important episodes in politics, economics, and foreign policy as well as social and cultural changes. Both famous and ordinary Americans are featured.