In this chapter Roy Rosenzweig discusses some of the findings from his 1994 study with David Thelen reported in The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life (Columbia University Press, 1998). Through an extensive telephone survey with average Americans, Rosenzweig and Thelen looked at how Americans use and understand history.  They found that, contrary to popular belief, Americans feel strongly connected to history, although personal and familial histories were more important than national histories.  Here Rosenzweig touches upon the implications of these findings for history teaching.