The federal courts: an essential history

Founding the federal courts, 1776-1789

Open for business, 1789-1801

A new beginning, 1801-1835

The antebellum courts, 1836-1860

The courts in crisis times, 1861-1876

The Gilded Age courts, 1877-1896

Federal courts in the Progressive Era, 1897-1919

Federal courts in the Age of Anxiety, 1921-1929

The courts in the Great Depression, 1929-1940

Federal courts and the "good war, " 1941-1945

The courts and the Cold War, 1946-1954

Federal courts in the Civil Rights era, 1955-1969

Reform and reaction, the federal courts, 1969-1986

Afterword by John S. Cooke and Russell R. Wheeler, with Daniel S. Holt and Jake Kobrick of the Federal Judicial Center History Office.