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In 1950, after over fifty years of military occupation and colonial rule, the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico staged an unsuccessful armed insurrection against the United States. Violence swept through the island: assassins were sent to kill President Harry Truman, gunfights roared in eight towns, police stations and post offices were burned down. In order to suppress this uprising, the US Army deployed thousands of troops and bombarded two towns, marking the first time in history that the US government bombed its own citizens. Through oral histories, personal interviews, eyewitness accounts, congressional testimony, and recently declassified FBI files, War Against All Puerto Ricans tells the story of a forgotten revolution and its context in Puerto Rico's history, from the US invasion in 1898 to the modern-day struggle for self-determination.

Built to join the rapidly expanding cities of New York and Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Bridge was thought by many at the start to be an impossibility destined to fail if not from insurmountable technical problems then from political corruption. The narrative encompasses the engineering marvel's conception through completion between 1869 and 1883. Central figures include designer John Roebling and his son Washington, who served as chief engineer despite suffering debilitating illness. Washington's wife Emily became instrumental to the project's success. McCullough presents the bridge as representing American achievement during the Industrial Revolution, balancing engineering specifics with human drama, exploring how ordinary workers and extraordinary leaders collaborated to create an iconic structure that transformed metropolitan New York.