Keller chooses fascinating examples to demonstrate how dominant fictions of a given time emerge and are entrenched, and how historical figures have come to accept or reject these fictions. She begins with 'the grandest fiction', the patriarchal system, and reflects on its origins, effects, and future. Then she addresses the fictions that dominated stories historians told about Reconstruction after the Civil War; the emergence and demise of Mormon polygamy as a fiction in the 19th century; and the life of Eleanor Roosevelt and the fictions that empowered her.

Fictions and the missions of history: our fictions, our missions, our selves -- The grandest fiction -- The scramble after the Civil War -- From Mormon polygamy to American monogamy: shifting fictions in the life of a society -- Eleanor Roosevelt: changing fictions in the life of an individual.