Introduction : Comic books as history teachers / Matthew Pustz -- pt. 1: Doing cultural history through comic books. How Wonder Woman helped my students "join the conversation" : comic books as teaching tools in a history methodology course / Jessamyn Neuhaus ; Comics as primary sources : the case of Journey into Mohawk country / Bridget M. Marshall ; Transcending the frontier myth : dime novel narration and (Jesse) Custer's last stand in Preacher / William Grady ; "Duel. I'll give you a DUEL" : intimacy and history in Megan Kelso's Alexander Hamilton trilogy / Alison Mandaville -- pt. 2: Comic books as cultural artifacts. American Golem : reading America through super-new dealers and the "melting pot" / Martin Lund ; "Dreams may end, but love never does" : marriage and materialism in American romance comics, 1947-1954 / Jeanne Emerson Gardner ; Parody and propaganda : fighting American and the battle against crime and communism in the 1950s / John Donovan ; Grasping for identity : the hands of Shang-Chi master of kung fu / Peter Lee ; "Paralysis and stagnation and drift" : America's malaise as demonstrated in comic books of the 1970s / Matthew Pustz ; The shopping malls of empire : cultural fragmentation, the new media, and consumerism in Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! / Matthew J. Costello -- pt. 3: Comic books and historical identity. Transformers and monkey kings : Gene Yang's American born Chinese and the quest for identity / Todd S. Munson ; Agent of change : the evolution and enculturation of Nick Fury / Philip G. Payne and Paul J. Spaeth ; The U.S. HIV/AIDS crisis and the negotiation of queer identity in superhero comics, or, Is Northstar still a fairy? / Ben Bolling -- pt. 4: Comic books and contemporary history. The militarism of American superheroes after 9/11 / A. David Lewis ; September 11, 2001 : witnessing history, demythifying the story in American widow / Yves Davo ; "The great machine doesn't wear a cape!" : American cultural anxiety and the post-9/11 superhero / Jeff Geers.