Scheduled Dates: June 8 to July 6
Please note that the schedule presented below is abbreviated due to time constraints imposed by the university calendar. If you need additional time to complete the reading and writing assignments, then please email me. You may take an incomplete for the first summer session. However, all work must be completed by August 22.
Topic 1: The Great Depression and New Deal
Reading: David Kennedy, The American People in the Great Depression: Freedom from Fear, Part One.
ISBN: 0195168925
Review of Amity Shales's The Forgotten Man [ New York Times ] [ New Republic ] [ National Review ]
Writing Prompt: In her recent book, The Forgotten Man, conservative columnist Amity Shales argues that Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal did nothing to solve the problems caused by the Great Depression. In fact, she says, “(f)rom 1929 to 1940 . . . government intervention helped to make the Depression Great.”
What would David Kennedy say about this interpretation? According to his book, Freedom From Fear, what did Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal do?
Response Statement due on discussion board by: June 9 (the second day of class)
Topic 2: World War II
Reading: Ronald Takaki, Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II.
ISBN: 0316831565
Writing Prompt: In his book, Double Victory, Ronald Takaki offers a compelling, multicultural history of America during World War II. What is the thesis of his book, and how does he prove it?
Response Statement due on discussion board by: June 13
Topic 3: Cold War and Civil Rights
Reading: Mary L. Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.
ISBN: 0691095132
Writing Prompt: In her book, Cold War Civil Rights, Mary Dudziak "examines the impact of Cold War foreign affairs on U.S. civil rights reform"(14). What does she find? How did the diplomatic realities of the Cold War "constrain and enhance civil rights reform"(11)? Be as specific as possible.
Response Statement due on discussion board by: June 19
Topic 4: "Not simply the best book on hippies...the essential book"
Reading: Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Writing Prompt: In his book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe chronicles the transformation of a "promising middle-class youth with all the advantages" into what was popularly known as "the hippie." The book tells the story of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters as they traveled around the United States in the first psychedelic bus, experimenting with powerful new hallucinogenic drugs, and setting the world on fire. What are the most important themes in the book, and what does it tell us about the counter culture of the late 1960s.
Response Statement due on discussion board by: June 26
Topic 5: The Vietnam War
Reading: James Olson and Randy Roberts, Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam 1945-1995.
ISBN-13: 9781405182225 (Barnes and Noble)
Writing Prompt: In their book, Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, James Olson and Randy Roberts write that Americans have had difficulty "in getting a clear grasp not only of the war itself but of their feelings about it." How do Olson and Roberts portray America's effort in Vietnam? What were the key turning points in the war? And, what lessons are there to be learned?
Response Statement due on discussion board by: July 3
Topic 6: The Suburbanization of the United States
Reading: Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States
ISBN: 0195049837
Writing Prompt: Crabgrass Frontier is a classic historical study that analyzes the significance of suburbanization in American culture. Incorporating social, economic, and architectural analysis, the book chronicles the growth of the suburbs to explains how "the good life" became associated with a home, a yard, and a family that was located far from the urban workplace. What are the main elements of Kenneth Jackson's argument in Crabgrass Frontier?
Response Statement due on discussion board by: July 7 |
