1. How do Edith M. Stern's notions about women's enslavement compare with George E. McMillan's observations about racial discrimination? What might account for the differences?

2. In what ways do Dwight D. Eisenhower's views about the promise of America compare with those of Vance Packard, Stern, and McMillan?

3. To what extent does the North Dakota civil defense plan reflect Eisenhower's warnings about the dangers faced by America?

4. How did the era's relative economic abundance shape the ideas and experiences of the individuals described in these documents?

5. How did the events of World War II continue to impact American lives in the 1950s? What changes that occurred during the war were reversed during peacetime? Why?