This history of Britain and the United States focuses on the misleading beliefs that each country had about the other and how these ideas impacted literary tradition. As Bradbury examines the political and social interrelations of both countries during the 19th and 20th centuries, he illustrates how the fantasies each country had about the other shaped such literary classics as "The Red Badge of Courage" and "The Loved One." He also argues that imagination and the mythologizing of history have done more to shape what one country believes about the other than concrete fact.