History 261
United States: 1865 to the Present
2513 Haven Hall
Winter 2008
Tu/Th 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Angell Hall Aud. B
Office Hours: Thursdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m., and by appt.
Course Webpage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlassite/history261.html
Graduate Student Instructors:
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Lauren Hirshberg |
Sections 006, 008 |
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Morgan LaBin |
Sections 003, 004 |
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Elspeth Martini |
Sections 002, 010 |
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|
Rebecca Mitchell |
Sections 012, 013 |
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|
Joshua Mound |
Sections 005, 011 |
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Kithika St. John |
Sections 007, 009 |
History 261 is the second half of the introductory survey of American history. The course will explore key themes and pivotal developments in the political, social, cultural, and economic history of the United States since the Civil War, focusing on both domestic and international affairs. We will examine major eras and transformations such as Reconstruction, the rise of Big Business and Organized Labor, Western Expansion and Imperialism, the Progressive Era, the Rise of Mass Culture, the Great Depression and New Deal, World War II and the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam Era, Conservatism and the "Reagan Revolution," and the War on Terror.
From multiple perspectives, History 261 will emphasize the struggles for freedom, conflicts over citizenship, and the shifting boundaries of the "American Creed" that has promised--and limited--equality, democracy, and liberty. We also will investigate key debates over competing interpretations of the past and the political struggles over historical memory, from the legacies of the Civil War to the battles over National History Standards in the 1990s. Discussion assignments include readings, films, and web-based explorations of primary documents, in order to evaluate the experiences of ordinary Americans in the context of broader historical forces. The goals of the course include introducing students to major historical themes and controversies in modern U.S. history, strengthening analytical skills through critical reading and discussion of primary and secondary sources, and engaging in writing assignments that require interpretation, evaluation, and synthesis of these sources.
Requirements: Students are expected to attend lectures regularly, to be present at all discussion sections, and to complete each section assignment in advance of the group meeting. Films also should be watched before the designated section meeting. Students should consult the course webpage routinely for reading material, graded assignments, class updates, and general course information.
Discussion Sections: Students in History 261 meet for two hour-long discussion sections per week. All students are expected to be prepared and to participate actively in every section meeting. Discussion sections will not reiterate the material covered in lectures but instead will explore historical interpretations and specific topics in greater depth. Students who must miss a discussion section should notify the GSI in advance and make arrangements to attend another section, if possible, or otherwise submit a one-page summary of the assigned material within one week of the missed section. A separate GSI section syllabus will address attendance policies and other subjects such as grading standards and late assignments in more detail.
Discussion Projects: On six occasions during the semester, Discussion Projects involve a short written and/or visual assignment to be completed before section and turned in at the conclusion of the relevant meeting. The Discussion Projects include interpretative responses to the readings, exploration of mini-research topics in electronic archives or online newspaper databases, and preparation of museum-style image exhibits. Guidelines for the Discussion Projects will be posted on the course webpage through the Discussion Section Assignments link for the specific section and hot-linked from the electronic version of this syllabus.
Films: We will watch seven films/documentaries outside of regularly scheduled class meetings. Students should analyze films with the same rigor as reading assignments--as historical documents and as cultural texts--taking notes in preparation for discussion section and in anticipation of graded assignments. The films will be on reserve at the Language Resource Center for one week before and one week after the discussion meetings (although they will be unavailable at the LRC from Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon during the week of the class screening). Before and after the LRC reserve period, the films will be in the Askwith Media Library. Most of the films also are available in area video stores. The class screening for each film will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Angell Hall Auditorium B on the Sunday evening before the scheduled discussion.
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Sunday Screening |
8:00 p.m. |
Location: Angell Aud. B |
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Film #1 |
Jan. 13 |
Birth of a Nation [short vers.] |
94 min. |
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Film #2 |
Jan. 27 |
Rio Grande |
105 min. |
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Film #3 |
March 2 |
The Grapes of Wrath |
129 min. |
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Film #4 |
March 9 |
The Best Years of Our Lives |
172 min. |
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Film #5 |
March 16 |
Dr. Strangelove |
93 min. |
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Film #6 |
March 30 |
Hearts and Minds |
112 min. |
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Film #7 |
April 6 |
Do the Right Thing |
120 min. |
Assigned films also will be available in streaming video format through a History 261 CTools site, so that you can watch them on your own timetable.
<https://ctools.umich.edu/portal/site/86eaac4f-d7ff-4107-0041-d198053089cf>
Graded Assignments: The guidelines for graded assignments will be posted on the course webpage. Anything covered in the course—reading assignments, films, lectures—is fair game for the final exam. All four components listed below must be completed in order to receive a passing grade in the course (even if you are taking History 261 with the pass/fail option).
*Discussion: consistent attendance, active participation, discussion projects (30%)
*5 page midterm, take-home essay assignment, based on course readings (20%)
*6 page research paper analyzing media coverage of an historical event (25%)
*Comprehensive final exam on Wednesday April 23, 1:30-3:30 p.m. (25%)
Style Guide: The History 261 Style Guide is available on the course webpage. These guidelines should be followed for the midterm essay and the research paper, and they also explain issues such as the documentation of sources and the penalties for plagiarism.
Readings:
1. Required Books: The following books are available for purchase at Shaman Drum Bookstore (313 S. State Street), and one copy of each is on reserve at Shapiro Undergraduate Library.
Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom
Patricia Limerick, Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West
David Traxel, 1898: The Birth of the American Century
Eric Rauchway, Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt's America
Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age
Robert McElvaine, The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941
Stephen Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War [2nd edition, 1996]
Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can't Wait [2000 Signet edition]
Christian Appy, Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam
Michael Schaller, Right Turn: American Life in the Reagan-Bush Era, 1980-1992
David Farber, Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America's First Encounter with Radical Islam
2. Discussion Section Assignments [WP]: Many of the course readings and other assignments are in electronic form, available through links on the course webpage. These include articles, primary source documents, and other types of digitally archived material labeled as "case studies" or "discussion projects" on the syllabus. Instead of an expensive coursepack or scanned library reserves, History 261 will take advantage of the free primary documents databases provided by digital archives such as History Matters and the Library of Congress's American Memory Collections. Electronic assignments (documents, case studies, and discussion projects) are denoted as [WP] in the course outline below. Hyperlinks are available through the electronic version of this syllabus and at the History 261 course webpage [not CTools] under the category Discussion Section Assignments.
Lecture Outlines will be available on the course webpage by the morning before the class meeting.
Course Outline
Week 1—Introduction
Jan. 3: The American Creed
**Section 1: Organizational session
Week 2—The Politics of History
Jan. 8: History and the Culture Wars
**Section 2A: Packet on National History Standards [WP]
Jan. 10: The Meaning of the Civil War
**Section 2B: Documents on Slavery and Emancipation [WP]
Week 3—Race, Region and Nation
Film #1: Birth of a Nation [short version], dir. D. W. Griffith, 1915, 94 min. (1/13 screening, discuss in 3B)
Jan. 15: Reconstruction Era
**Section 3A: Foner, Story of American Freedom (Introduction, Chapters 1-5)
Jan. 17: New South/Jim Crow Nation
**Section 3B: Documents on Redemption/Jim Crow [WP]
**Birth of a Nation
Week 4—Industrial Capitalism
Jan. 22: The Gilded Age
**Section 4A: Foner, Story of American Freedom (Chapters 6-7)
**Documents on the "Labor Question" [WP]
Jan. 24: Politics of Protest
**Section 4B: Case Studies of Labor Strikes [WP]
**Due in Section 4B: Discussion Project #1 [WP]
Week 5—The West and the Frontier Mythology
Film #2: Rio Grande, dir. John Ford, 1950, 105 min. (1/27 screening)
Jan. 29: Conquest of the West
**Section 5A: Limerick, Legacy of Conquest (Introduction, Chapters 1, 3, 6-8, 10)
**Rio Grande
Jan. 31: Borderlands and Settlements
**Section 5B: Case Studies of Chinese Immigration in California [WP]
**Due in Section 5B: Discussion Project #2 [WP]
Week 6—American Imperialism
Feb. 5: Manifest Destiny
**Section 6A: Traxel, 1898 (pp. 3-16, 78-236, 264-286, 315-319)
Feb. 7: The "Burden of Empire"
**Section 6B: Documents on the "Reluctant Empire" Debate [WP]
Week 7—Progressive Era
Feb. 12: Age of Reform
**Section 7A: Rauchway, Murdering McKinley
**Documents on Progressivism [WP]
**Due in Section 7A: Discussion Project #3 [WP]
Feb. 14: America and the Great War
**Section 7B: Foner, Story of American Freedom (Chapter 8)
**Documents on Americanization Campaigns [WP]
Week 8—Roaring Twenties
Feb. 19: Rise of Mass Culture
**Section 8A: Boyle, Arc of Justice
Feb. 21: Modernism and Reaction
**Section 8B: Case Studies of Famous Trials [WP]
**Feb. 22—Midterm Essay Due [WP]
Spring Break (Feb. 23-March 2)
Week 9—The Great Depression
Film #3: The Grapes of Wrath, dir. John Ford, 1940, 129 min. (3/2 screening, discuss in 9B)
March 4: Hard Times
**Section 9A: McElvaine, The Great Depression (pp. xiii-xiv, 90-195)
**Foner, Story of American Freedom (Chapter 9)
**Documents on "The Forgotten Man" [WP]
March 6: New Deals
**Section 9B: McElvaine, The Great Depression (pp. 196-322)
**Grapes of Wrath
**Documents on the Popular Front [WP]
**Due in Section 9B: Discussion Project #4 [WP]
Week 10—The "American Century"
Film #4: The Best Years of Our Lives, dir. William Wyler, 1946, 172 min. (3/9 screening)
March 11: World War II
**Section 10A: Foner, Story of American Freedom (Chapter 10)
**The Best Years of Our Lives
**Documents on the "American Century" [WP]
March 13: The Cold War
**Section 10B: Case Studies of Atomic Bomb/Smithsonian Controversy [WP]
**Due in Section 10B: Discussion Project #5 [WP]
Week 11—Fifties America
Film #5: Dr. Strangelove, dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1964, 93 min. (3/16 screening)
March 18: The "American Way"
**Section 11A: Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War
**Dr. Strangelove: or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
March 20: Suburban Nation
**Section 11B: Foner, Story of American Freedom (Chapter 11)
**Documents on Middle-Class Society [WP]
Week 12—Civil Rights Era
March 25: Civil Rights Movement
**Section 12A: King, Why We Can't Wait
**Foner, Story of American Freedom (pp. 275-287)
**Documents on Civil Rights/Black Power [WP]
March 27: Crisis of Liberalism
**Section 12B: Foner, Story of American Freedom (pp. 287-305)
**Case Studies of Social Movements [WP]
**Due in Section 12B: Discussion Project #6 [WP]
Week 13—Nation Divided
Film #6: Hearts and Minds, dir. Peter Davis, 1974, 112 min. (3/30 screening)
April 1: Vietnam War
**Section 13A: Appy, Working-Class War (pp. 1-63, 174-297)
**Hearts and Minds
**Documents on Vietnam [WP]
April 3: Conservative Turn
**Section 13B: Schaller, Right Turn (Chapters 1-2)
**Foner, Story of American Freedom (Chapter 13)
**Documents on Political Realignment [WP]
Week 14—Back to the Future
Film #7: Do the Right Thing, dir. Spike Lee, 1989, 120 min. (4/6 screening, discuss in 14B)
April 8: Reagan Era
**Section 14A: Farber, Taken Hostage
**Schaller, Right Turn (Chapter 4)
April 10: E Pluribus Unum?
**Section 14B: Schaller, Right Turn (Chapters 5-6)
**Do The Right Thing
**Documents on Current History [WP]
Research Paper Due: Friday, April 11 [WP]
Week 15—The Burden of History
April 15: New World Order
**Section 15: Documents on the "War on Terror" [WP]
Final Exam: Wednesday, April 23, 1:30-3:30 p.m.