Readings
Writing
Ventures
Research
External Websites
This course is focused upon the tremendous range of experiences in American history since the end of the Second World War. An era of nuclear power and nuclear war, of war in Vietnam, social rebellion of the young, the demise of the New Deal Coalition, the rise of the right, and the growing importance of the global economy in all of our lives.
Much more than in lower-level courses, this one will be focused on themes and discussion. I will lecture some, but our work will be more collaborative -- identifying key moments and themes and developments and discussing the range of their implications.
Below are some of the readings, and an idea about what the written work is for the class. At the end are some very interesting websites I've found relevant to this course and its themes. Contact me if you have any questions!
| If you find the reading challenging and are having a hard time keeping up or getting what you need out of the texts, see if any of my advice on solving the book blues helps. |
Books (available in the student store -- a copy of each will also be on reserve in the IC library):
Christian Appy, Working Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam (1993). A view of America's most divisive war from the perspective of the soldiers who fought it.
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (1962). A wonderful, brief collection of two essays on being black in America, written by one of my favorite writers.
William Chafe, et. al., A History of Our Time: Readings on Postwar America, 3rd Ed. (2003). A superb collection of readings and primary material that will bring the era to life for us.
E. L. Doctorow, The Book of Daniel (1972). A novel of the cold war and of the tensions of the turbulent 1960s, written by one of the most respected novelists in recent generations.
Additional readings available on the web -- you can get to them by clicking
here. . .
. . . if you have access to the JSTOR database:
. . . or access to the History Cooperative:
. . . or access to Proquest:
and for the last class period:
. . . or access to Infotrac:
[note: computers on the IC network -- which has a paid subscription to these services -- will all arrive there. Home computers for IC faculty and students (even through ResNet) will not, because these databases will not recognize you as a subscriber. You can get to them, but you have to go to the IC library website, enter your password to gain access to these databases, then search the databases for the articles. Others not tied to IC will not be able to open these documents unless you have also paid a subscription to these services.]
Recommended Reading for all my classes:
History is understood through the written word. It is not simply facts, but interpretations and arguments. You will be asked to write several essays in this course to hone your skill in fashioning historical arguments, as well as responding to some primary materials in more informal assignments I call ventures (below)
You will also write a 12- to 15-page research paper on a specific side of American history in this period. I will supply a suggestive list of potential topics, and together you and I will define a topic of interest to you.
We will discuss each assignment as the course progresses.
I have developed two webpages giving:
Please look into them (and/or come see me) if you need/want any further help.
Venture (ven´-cher), n. - 1. an undertaking involving uncertainty as to the outcome, esp. a risky or dangerous one. 2. a business enterprise or speculation in which something is risked in the hope of profit. v. - to take the risk of, brave the dangers of, dare [late ME var. of adventure]
On two occasions in this course, I will ask you to venture into a particular situation, text, or sources in an attempt to broaden your understanding of the experiences of various moments in American history. These assignments will not be as analytical as our other written work - the goal here is not so much to test your critical thinking skills as to get you to connect with this material.
Venture A This venture is into two different sites that lay out the political history of this period in two different ways. One shows sweeping changes in voting, and the other gives us all sorts of examples of the political advertising.
Venture B This venture is about race and the press. After taking a fascinating test about our unconscious ideas about race, consider the strategires of the Civil Rights Movement in using the press to their advantage.
Venture C
Research topics for this class can be found on the page |
Ithaca College and Cornell offer a tremendous number of opportunities for researching U.S history. Here follow some sources that will be of help to you in your projects.
Journals:
there are a number of helpful Journals, particularly the Journal of American
History, the American Historical Review, Journal of Social History, Journal
of Southern History, and American Quarterly. They are searchable through the
web database "America: History and Life" mentioned below.
Books:
a few in the reference collection and hundreds in the stacks. For U.S. history,
they are generally in the "E" and "F" sections. Find the
right section for the topic you are researching, then browse all around in that
area -- you might find just the thing you need but that somehow did not come
up in your catalog search.
Web:
Several very helpful resources are connected to the IC
Library webpage. "America:
History and Life" offers a terrific way to get to scholarly works by
historians. It is searchable by subject and will connect you to the full-text
articles in JSTOR and Project Muse and others. This is a wonderful asset, allowing
you direct access to a wealth of scholarship which you can then simply print
out or read on your screen. Other options for similar sources: "ProQuest"
or Infotrac's"Expanded Academic Index". All of these web sources are
databases for articles -- this is one of the two ways the web is useful for
historical research
The other way the web is useful for research is when primary sources are put on the web. In particular, the IC library has the New York Times going all the way back to the 1850s. Get to it via the list of databases -- it is under "Proquest Historical Newspapers: the New York Times". We also have the Wall Street Journal. Searchable and nearly complete (some copywritten photos and such are not included), it is very very convenient and wonderfully valuable. Everyone should see if this source will help you.
There are thousands of sites out there with "stuff" having historical content. But because no one is checking them for accuracy, they cannot be depended upon and are not acceptable for this course.
Interlibrary Loan:
Our library is actually much bigger than you might think. We have books and
journals, but through "JSTOR" in particular, the web offers us much
more. We are also able to use the holdings of all sorts of libraries across
the country. If there is a book or journal article that you want and we don't
have it, go to the Interlibrary
Loan Form on the IC Library's Catalog page, and ask our library to get it
for you. They are very good about getting things, although it takes time to
do so. From an "America:
History and Life" entry (if the article is not available in full text)
you can actualy link to an interlibrary loan form, and it completes the portions
about the article you want to order! Convenient. Ask early in the semester,
and you could get all sorts of material that our own library does not offer.
Ask late, and you won't.
Cornell's Research Libraries:
IC is a college focused on undergraduate education, and our library reflects
that orientation. Cornell is a university with a number of graduate-level programs,
and therefore it has accumulated library collections many times the size of
ours. It has, in fact, 19 separate libraries, although most everything of interest
to you would be in the Uris and Olin libraries. I do not require you to research
at Cornell, but research libraries offer so many opportunities to expand your
understanding of both the potentials of research and what is "out there"
on a particular topic, that I highly recommend it. As you research at IC, flip
over to the Cornell Library catalog and see what is available there as well.
External Links to Appropriate Sites
Much that is on the web is garbage -- anyone can erect a website and no one is policing content to be sure that it is accurate. Just as problematic is the fact that this form and shape for information tends toward abbreviation and illustration: visual stimulation is of the essence, whereas deep analysis and context are to often considered boring and expendable. As is often true in journalism as well, the key is to keep the surfer's attention and to be brief -- a central tenet to successful web development is to make all pages short.
That means that for substantial historical analysis, we need to look to sources in print. But the web does offer some very good exhibits, and some intriguing primary materials as well. Here are a few sites that I have found interesting and helpful. Let me know if you find others.
[under development]
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This website is occasionally maintained by Michael
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