HISTORY 710

Graduate Colloquium on 20th Century US History

Allan M. Winkler

Spring Term 2007

Allan M. Winkler Office: 244 Upham Hall
Office Phone: 529-5132

Office Hours: M: 11 - 11:30 AM & 1 - 1:30 PM                          W:11 AM - 12 PM, & by appt.
Home Phone: 523-2993
E-mail: winkleam@muohio.edu

Home Page: http://www.users.muohio.edu/winkleam/amw.htm


COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course examines political, social, and cultural changes in the United States in the 20th century (and sometimes over a longer period of time), focusing on a variety of topical themes on a week-by-week basis.


COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Each week, one of the members of the class will start off the discussion with a 5-minute presentation introducing the book or books we are considering and framing questions that the class can try to answer.

Over the course of the term, each of you should submit 3 two-page (500-600 word) reviews of books on the list. Please submit a review the day we are discussing a given book, BEFORE we have had a chance to discuss it together.

Near the end of the term, each of you should submit a 5-7 page (1,500-2,000 word) review essay on 3 books on the list. These may include titles you have already reviewed (above) but all 3 books should tie together in some way. You may also use a book (or books) not on the list for this review essay. The review essay should have a focus, and should not simply be 3 individual review pasted together.


ATTENDANCE

Your attendance is absolutely essential for this course. Please make sure you are present for every session.


GRADING

This is a colloquium, and your active involvement in all discussions is necessary. Half of your grade will be based on your written work and the other half on your participation in class.


BOOK AVAILABILITY

Books have NOT been ordered from the bookstores. Please order them on your own, or arrange to get them from OhioLink. If you use OhioLink, in some cases, there may be limited copies. Please share books with the others as best you can, so that all of us will have a chance to read them. Place any orders sufficiently in advance so that books will arrive in time.

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WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

JANUARY 8 – Introduction


JANUARY 15 – (DATE MAY NEED TO CHANGE)

  • Mary P. Ryan, Mysteries of Sex: Tracing Men & Women...

JANUARY 22 – Affluence and Consumption
  • Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers' Republic
  • Daniel Horowitz, The Anxieties of Affluence


JANUARY 29 – Race and Nation

  • Gary Gerstle, American Crucible: Race & Nation in the Twentieth Century


FEBRUARY 5 – Polio and American Society

  • David M. Oshinsky, Polio: An American Story


FEBRUARY 12 – History and Memory

  • Emily S. Rosenberg, A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor...
  • Edward T. Linenthel & Tom Engelhardt, History Wars
  • Spencer Crew, Director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, will be present for the first part of the class


FEBRUARY 20 – (TUESDAY) – The Civil Rights Movement: 1

  • Raymond Arsenault, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle...


FEBRUARY 26 – The Civil Rights Movement: 2

  • Taylor Branch, At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68


MARCH 5 – The Cold War

  • John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History


MARCH 12 – NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK


MARCH 19 – The Coming of Conservatism

  • Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right


MARCH 26 – The Carter Years

  • Burton I. Kaufman & Scott Kaufman, James Earl Carter


APRIL 2 – The Reagan Years

  • John Ehrman, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan
  • Philip Jenkins, Decade of Nightmares


APRIL 9 – The GOP Majority

  • Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy


APRIL 16 – The Conflict in Iraq

  • George Packer, The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq


APRIL 23 – Popular History: George W. Bush and the War in Iraq

  • Bob Woodward, State of Denial
  • Please turn in your longer review essay at this last class

Allan M. Winkler
Department of History
Miami University
Last updated: December 11, 2006
URL: http://www.users.muohio.edu/winkleam/hst710.htm