The second volume of American Mosaic is an academic reader, filled with primary sources from what is known as "modern American history." The book contains dozens of documents, speeches, congressional addresses, drawings, and more, to help teachers tell the story of the modern development of the United States. Time periods covered in Volume 2 of American Mosaic include the Gilded Age and the growth of industrial America, the imperial and Progressivism eras, both World War I and World War II, the 1920s, the Great Depression and New Deal, through the Cold War and present. Documents are able to be easily copied and distributed to students due to the book's paperback binding and 8.5 inch by 11 inch formatting.