The years between the patrician leadership of George Washington and the campaign that elected William Henry Harrison marked a period of startling changes in American life. However, most American were enmeshed in the myriad ordinary concerns of their lives, and although deeply affected by the great events of the time, their concern with them was intermittent. Jack Larkin describes the often gritty texture of life as these Americans experienced it, weaving the disparate threads of everyday life into the rich, complicated tapestry of American history during this transitional period.