Ellen Stroud 303 Rice Hall History Department

telephone: 775-8530 e-mail: ellen.stroud@oberlin.edu office hours: Tues 11-12 and Weds 10-12

 

  

History 253: American History Since 1945

 

Spring 2004

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:35 - 10:50 am

King Hall Room 243

 

 

In this course, we will focus on the themes of reform and reaction as we examine changes in American culture, politics, and landscapes since World War II.  We will also be exploring the peculiar challenges of writing and understanding recent history as we consider the ways in which Americans changed their lives, homes and institutions in the second half of the twentieth century.

 

 

Reading:

 

The following books are required reading, and are available at the Oberlin College Bookstore, and are on reserve at Mudd Library:

 

Schrecker, Ellen.  Many Are the Crimes:  McCarthyism in America.  Princeton:  Princeton University Press, 1998.

 

May, Elaine Tyler.  Homeward Bound:  American Families in the Cold War Era.  New York:  Basic Books, 1988.

 

Payne, Charles M..  I’ve Got the Light of Freedom:  The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle.  Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1995.

 

O’Brien, Tim.  The Things They Carried.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin, 1990; Broadway Books, 1998.

 

Goodman, James.  Blackout.  New York:  North Point Press, 2003.

 

Sturken, Marita.  Tangled Memories:  The Vietnam War, the Aids Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering.  Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1997.

 

Thelen, David.  Becoming Citizens in the Age of Television.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1996.

 

Additional readings will occasionally be made available on ERES or the course Blackboard site, or will be distributed in class.  Also, although I am not assigning specific readings from a textbook, I highly recommend that you have one on hand.  There will be many times when you will find it helpful to be able to look up a specific policy or date. 

 

 

Class Discussion and Participation

 

Despite the fact that this is a large class, course attendance and participation are crucial components.  Each student is expected to have mastered that day’s readings before class, and to be prepared to engage in intelligent discussion of that reading. Class attendance and participation will account for 15 percent of the final course grade.

 

 

Writing

 

You will be writing two papers for this course.  The first paper, worth 15 percent of the final grade, will be a 3-5 page critique of one of the first three books we are reading in the course (Schrecker, May, or Payne).  Papers on Schrecker or May are due on March 2; papers on Payne are due on March 23.  The choice of book (and corresponding deadline) is yours.

 

The second paper, worth 20 percent of the final grade, will be a 6-8 page analysis of a post-WWII American novel, memoir, movie, piece of music or other work of art or cultural artifact of your choosing, which you will evaluate as an historical source.  This final paper will be due on the last day of class, May 13.  Detailed guidelines for the two papers will be distributed during the second week of class.

 

Papers should be submitted in hard copy, and should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and a twelve-point font.  Page limits should be taken seriously:  writing concisely is an important skill.

 

Due dates should also be taken seriously.  Papers will lose one-third of a letter grade for every 24-hour period they are late.  That means, for example, that a paper that normally would have received a B+ would receive a B if it were turned in the morning after it was due.

 

Students must complete and turn in all written work in order to pass the course.  That means, for example, that a student who has received an A on every assignment but one, but neglects to turn in that one, will fail the entire course. 

 

Students who achieve at least a B average for the two papers and a B- average for the course as a whole will receive writing proficiency credit.

 

 

Exams

 

There will be a midterm and a final exam, the times for which are listed below.  The midterm will be worth 20 percent of the course grade, and the final will be worth 30 percent.  It is your responsibility to be sure that you can be present at both exams.  There will be no make-ups for the mid-term or the final except under truly extraordinary circumstances.

 

 

Grading

 

To summarize, the course will be graded as follows:

 

Class participation:                              15 %

First paper:                                          15 %

Final paper:                                         20 %

Midterm:                                             20 %

Final:                                                   30 %

 

 

 

Schedule of Classes and Assignments

 

Week One                             

 

Tuesday, February 10             Introductions and Themes

 

Thursday, February 12            World War II as a Turning Point

 

Reading:

Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes, ix-85.

 

 

Week Two                             

 

Tuesday, February 17             A Nation at Peace?

 

Reading:

Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes, 86-265.

 

Thursday, February 19            The Politics of Anti-Communism

 

Reading:

Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes, 266-415.

 

Week Three                          

 

Tuesday, February 24             The Cold War at Home

 

Reading:

Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound, ix-99.

 

Thursday, February 26            Containment as Domestic Policy?

 

Reading:

Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound, 100-208.

 

Week Four                            

 

Tuesday, March 2                   Film:  The Atomic Café

                                               

*papers on Schrecker or May are due*

                                                           

Thursday, March 4                  Landscapes of Change

 

                                                                                                                                   

Week Five                             

 

Tuesday, March 9                   The Early Civil Rights Movement

 

Reading:

Charles M. Payne,  I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, 1-131

 

Thursday, March 11                The Great Society

                                                           

Reading:

Charles M. Payne,  I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, 132-337

                                                                                                                                                           

Week Six                               

 

Tuesday, March 16                 Rights Secured?

                                                           

Reading:

Charles M. Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, 338-441

 

Thursday, March 18                Film:  Eyes on the Prize

 

 

Week Seven              

 

Tuesday, March 23                 Sexual Revolutions                

 

*papers on Payne are due*

 

Thursday, March 25                Midterm Examination                        

 

 

Week Eight                           

 

Tuesday, March 30                 No Class: Spring Recess

 

Thursday, April 1                    No Class: Spring Recess

 

 

Week Nine                            

 

Tuesday, April 6                     The Vietnam War

 

Reading:

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried, 1-116.

 

Thursday, April 8                    War in Recent America

 

Reading:

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried, 117-246.

 

                                               

Week Ten                              

 

Tuesday, April 13                   Watergate

 

Reading:

Goodman, Blackout, xi-128.                          

           

Thursday, April 15                  The Seventies

 

Reading:         

Goodman, Blackout, 129-228.

 

Week Eleven                         

 

Tuesday, April 20                   Meanings of Equality

                                   

Thursday, April 22                  Radical Politics

                                                           

 

Week Twelve                        

 

Tuesday, April 27                   The Politics of Memory

 

Reading:

Sturken, Tangled Memories, 1-145.

                                                           

Thursday, April 29                  The AIDS Epidemic

 

Reading:

Sturken, Tangled Memories, 146-259.

                                                           

                                                        

Week Thirteen                      

 

Tuesday, May 4                      The Reagan Years

 

Reading:

Thelen, Becoming Citizens, 1-148.

 

Thursday, May 6                     Post-Cold War America

 

Reading:

Thelen, Becoming Citizens, 149-217.

 

 

Week Fourteen                     

 

Tuesday, May 11                    Conclusions

 

Thursday, May 13                   Final Thoughts

 

                                                            *Final paper due*

 

 

Final Exam:  Thursday, May 20 at 2 pm