History 364

History of American Suburbia

 

 

Matt Lassiter                                                                                                              

2513 Haven Hall                                                                                  

mlassite@umich.edu                                                                    

 

Fall 2007

Tu/Th 11:30-1:00

Angell Hall Aud. B

 

Office Hours: Thurs. 2:00-4:00 pm, and by appointment

 

Course Webpage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlassite/history364.html

 

Graduate Student Instructors:

          

Maria Paz Esguerra

<esguerra@umich.edu>

(Sections 002, 007)

Millington Bergeson-Lockwood

<mwlock@umich.edu>

(Sections 004, 008, 009)

Joshua Mound

<mound@umich.edu>

(Sections 003, 005, 006)

 

 

In post-1945 U.S. history, the suburbs have emerged as the dominant method of social organization, the primary focus of land-use planning, and the center of political power. Critics have blamed suburbia for everything from the abandonment of the cities to the alienation of youth to the environmental devastation of sprawl. Defenders have praised the suburbs for the safety of their neighborhoods, the quality of their schools, and the broad expansion of the middle-class "American Dream" of a detached, single-family home. This course will grapple with the dominant themes and legacies of suburbanization in modern America through a focus on popular culture; social and political history; race, class, gender, and generational analysis; urban planning policies and environmental consequences. Did the same forces that produced the sprawling suburbs also create the urban crisis? How does a metropolitan approach to modern American history recast discussions about the rise and fall of the New Deal Order, the power shift from Rustbelt to Sunbelt, the changing ideologies of class and race, the politics of family and community, and the relationship between local and national policies? How can the increasing diversity and dynamism of the suburbs be reconciled with the pervasive stereotypes of architectural blandness and cultural conformity? What does it mean to say that the United States has become a "Suburban Nation"?

 

Lecture themes and discussion topics range from Levittown to Columbine, from the "Feminine Mystique" to the black middle class, from the "Silent Majority" to the anti-sprawl movement. We will begin by confronting the dominant discourses of suburbia in American politics and pop culture, and the course will focus extensively on films, novels, and other mass media sources as key shapers of suburban identity. We will pay close attention to the periodic battles over inclusion and exclusion in suburban communities, including political conflicts over school desegregation and housing integration. Throughout the semester, we will examine the changing meaning of the "suburban" label, as middle-class bedroom communities have evolved into autonomous horizontal cities no longer dependent on the urban core.

 

 

Requirements: Students are expected to attend lectures regularly, to be present at all discussion sections, and to be prepared and participate actively in the section meetings. Assigned films should be watched in advance of the weekly discussion section. Students should consult the course webpage routinely for reading material, graded assignments, research links, class updates, and general course information. The Lecture Outlines also will be available on the course webpage by the morning before the class meeting.

 

Films: We will watch six films 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 at the Askwith Media Library. The class screening for each film will begin at 8:00 p.m. on the Sunday evening immediately before the relevant discussion sections, all in Angell Auditorium B.

 

Film #1

Sept. 9

Happiness

139 min.

Film #2

Sept. 23

A Raisin in the Sun

128 min.

Film #3

Sept. 30

The Graduate

106 min.

Film #4

Oct. 21

Ordinary People

124 min.

Film #5

Nov. 11

Thirteen

99 min.

Film #6

Dec. 9

American Beauty

122 min.

 

These films are also available in streaming video format through a History 364 CTools site:

https://ctools.umich.edu/portal/site/c3316220-7a00-44fc-80cb-8dc5673640f3

 

Discussion Projects: On six occasions during the semester, discussion projects will include a short (one page, single-spaced) written assignment that should be completed by the start of section. These include responses to films and readings, summaries of oral interviews/family research projects, and an urban planning report. The details for the discussion projects are posted on the course webpage, under the link Discussion Projects, and also are hot-linked from the electronic version of this syllabus.

 

Graded Assignments: The guidelines for graded assignments also will be posted on the course webpage in a timely fashion. Anything covered in the course—reading assignments, films, lectures—is fair game for the final exam, although it will be tilted toward the material after the midterm. A final exam review guide also will be available before the end of classes. All four components listed below must be completed in order to receive a passing grade in the course.

 

*Discussion: consistent attendance, active participation, discussion projects (30%)

*A 4-5 page midterm, take-home essay assignment, based on course readings (20%)

*An 8-10 page research paper, based on primary and secondary sources (25%)

*A comprehensive final exam on Dec. 19, 10:30-12:30, in Angell Hall Aud. B (25%)

 

Style Guide: The History 364 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 and other forms of academic dishonesty.

 

Academic Minor: History 364 counts as a "perspectives" class under the requirements for the Academic Minor in Urban and Community Studies. For more information about this minor program, contact the Academic Services Office of the Residential College.

 

Metropolitan History Speaker Series: I am the organizer of a metropolitan history initiative that brings outside scholars to campus for lectures/panel discussions. Students in History 364 are encouraged to attend, and I will send an email to the class with more details about each event.

 

Fri. Sept. 14

Margaret O'Mara

(Washington)

High-Tech Suburbs

Fri. Sept. 28

Alison Isenberg

(Rutgers)

Revitalizing Downtowns

Fri. Nov. 9

David Freund

(Maryland)

Segregation in Metro Detroit

Fri. Nov. 16

Rhonda Williams

(Case Western)

Race and the War on Drugs

Fri. Dec. 7

Howard Gillette

(Rutgers)

Urban Renewal in the Rust Belt

          

Readings:

 

1. Electronic Reader [ER]: A selection of journal articles and book chapters is available as a password-protected, web-based Electronic Reader. These assignments are denoted as [ER] in the syllabus and can be accessed through the U-M Library Reserves Service. The readings are pdf files that use Adobe Acrobat. The direct link for the electronic reader:

 

http://www.lib.umich.edu/reserves/ures/lists/1/fa2007/fa2007HISTORY364mlassite.php

 

2. Internet Documents [WP]: A few readings will be available on the worldwide web. These assignments are denoted as [WP] in the syllabus, and hyperlinks are available on the electronic syllabus and through the course webpage in the section Links to Assigned Internet Documents.

 

3. 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.

 

Dean Bakopoulos, Please Don't Come Back from the Moon

Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States

Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road

Kirse Granat May, Golden State, Golden Youth: The California Image in Popular Culture

Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero

David L. Kirp, John Dwyer, and Larry Rosenthal, Our Town: Race, Housing, and the Soul of Suburbia

Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles

Elinor Burkett, Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Andres Duany, and Jeff Speck, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

 

 

Course Outline

 

 

Week 1—Introduction

 

Sept. 4: The Suburban Crisis

 

Sept. 6: Mapping the Metropolis

 

**Discussion Reading: Robert Fishman, "The American Metropolis at Century's End: Past and Future Influences" [WP]

*Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley, "Divided We Sprawl," Atlantic Monthly (Dec. 1999) [WP]

*David Brooks, "Patio Man and the Sprawl People," The Weekly Standard (Aug. 12 & 19, 2002) [WP]

*Jonathan Mahler, "The Soul of the New Exurb," New York Times Magazine (March 27, 2005) [WP]

*Eyal Press, "The New Suburban Poverty," The Nation (April 23, 2007) [WP]

 

 

Week 2—Suburban Discourses

 

Sept. 11: Suburban Pathology                        

 

Sept. 13: Suburban Exceptionalism

 

**Discussion Reading: Bakopoulos, Please Don't Come Back from the Moon

 

**Film #1: Happiness, dir. Todd Solondz, 1998, 139 min. (9/9 screening)

 

**Discussion Project #1: American Dreams [WP]

 

 

Week 3—Origins of Suburbia

 

Sept. 18: Planning Utopian Communities

 

Sept. 20: Reconstructing the "American Dream"

 

**Discussion Reading: Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier (Introduction, Chapters 8-16)

 

 

Week 4—Fifties America

 

Sept. 25: The "Affluent Society"

 

Sept. 27: The Domestic Crisis

 

**Discussion Reading: Yates, Revolutionary Road

 

**Film #2: A Raisin in the Sun, dir. Daniel Petrie, 1961, 128 min. (9/23 screening)

 

**Discussion Project #2: Family History Project [WP]

 

 

Week 5—Culture of Containment

 

Oct. 2: The Baby Boom

 

Oct. 4: Cold War Suburbs

 

**Discussion Reading: May, Golden State, Golden Youth

*Students for a Democratic Society, "The Port Huron Statement" (1962) [WP]

 

**Film #3: The Graduate, dir. Mike Nichols, 1967, 106 min. (9/30 screening)

 

 

Week 6—Suburban Rebels

 

Oct. 9: The "Silent Majority"

 

Oct. 11: Class Traitors

 

**Discussion Reading: TIME, "Man and Woman of the Year: The Middle Americans" (Jan. 5, 1970) [WP]

*Richard Lemon, "The Troubled American" (pp. 13-40, 65-75, 211-219) [ER]

*Robert Coles, "The Middle Americans" (pp. 43-49, 95-106) [ER]

*Barbara Ehrenreich, "The Discovery of the Working Class" (pp. 97-143) [ER]

 

 

**Oct. 12—Midterm Essay Due [WP]

 

 

Week 7The "Urban Crisis"

 

Oct. 16: Fall Break (no class)

 

Oct. 18: Motor City

 

**Discussion Reading: Thomas Sugrue, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction Against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964" (pp. 551-578) [ER]

*Kerner Commission, "Summary" and "Future of the Cities" (pp. 1-29, 389-409) [ER]

*Stanley Greenberg, "Macomb County in the American Mind" (pp. 23-54) [ER]

*Detroit News Special Report (2002) "The Cost of Segregation" [WP]

 

**Discussion Project #3: Oral Interview Project [WP]

 

**Discussion sections will meet this week (Tuesday sections to be rescheduled)

 

 

Week 8—Middle-Class Malaise

 

Oct. 23: Family Values

 

Oct. 25: Teenage Wasteland

 

**Discussion Reading: Ellis, Less Than Zero

 

**Film #4: Ordinary People, dir. Robert Redford, 1980, 124 min. (10/21 screening)

 

 

Week 9— The "New American Dilemma"?

 

Oct. 30: Housing and Neighborhoods

 

Nov. 1: Schools and Democracy

 

**Discussion Reading: Kirp, Dwyer, and Rosenthal, Our Town: Race, Housing, and the Soul of Suburbia

 

**Discussion Project #4: Class and Race [WP]

 

 

Week 10—Postsuburban America

 

Nov. 6: California Dreamin'

 

Nov. 8: Rise of the Sunbelt

 

**Discussion Reading: Davis, City of Quartz (Prologue, Chapters 3-5)

 

 

Week 11—Culture of Fear

 

Nov. 13: Suburban Panics

 

Nov. 15: Adolescent Landscapes

 

**Discussion Reading: Burkett, Another Planet (pp. 1-40, 57-234, 245-321)

*Columbine Electronic Packet [WP]

 

**Film #5: Thirteen, dir. Catherine Hardwicke, 2003, 99 min. (11/12 screening)

          

**Discussion Project #5: High School Investigation [WP]

          

 

Week 12—Suburban Political Majority

 

Nov. 20: Swing Voters

 

Nov. 22: Thanksgiving (no class)

 

**Discussion sections do not meet this week

 

 

**Nov. 21—Research Paper Due [WP]

 

 

Week 13—Metropolitan Diversity

 

Nov. 27: Black Suburbs

 

Nov. 29: On the Margins

 

**Discussion Reading: Andrew Wiese, "Places of Their Own" (pp. 209-13, 225-68) [ER]

*David J. Dent, "The New Black Suburbs," New York Times Magazine (June 14, 1992), pp. 18-25 [WP]

*Sheryll Cashin, "Dilemmas of Place and Suburbanization of the Black Middle Class" (pp. 87-110) [ER]

*Alan Wolfe, "Suburbia's Changing Moral Story" (pp. 180-195, 210-227) [ER]

 

 

Week 14—Metropolitan Planning

 

Dec. 4: Sprawl and Smart Growth

 

Dec. 6: The Regionalism Agenda

 

**Discussion Reading: Plater-Zyberk, Duany, and Speck, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

 

**Discussion Project #6: Urban Planning Project [WP]

 

 

Week 15—American Dreams

 

Dec. 11: Suburban Victims and Middle-Class Heroes

 

**Film #6: American Beauty, dir. Sam Mendes, 1999, 122 min. (12/9 screening)

 

 

**Dec. 19—Final Exam            10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. in Angell Hall Aud. B