US Survey Since 1865

United States History
since 1865

History 112

Michael Trotti
History Department
412 Muller
(607)274-1591

Readings
Writing
Ventures
External Websites

This is a survey course, meaning that it will not make any students into experts in the field, but will rather give you a certain kind of historical knowledge -- hitting the high spots in the history of America's last century and a half. It is an amazing period, moving from "the era of horse and buggy to putting a man on the moon" as my grandmother said of her lifetime. In addition, we will discuss the largest depression the nation has ever suffered, two World Wars we helped to win, and the nation's only defeat in war (against a small third world country, no less!)

I seek to expose students to the most important themes and moments in this period, but more than that, I hope to show you a little something about the historical method, the ways historians find meaning in the past. Far from being simply about facts and dates, this course will open up a number of contentious historical issues, and in written assignments, it will ask you to interrogate the past.

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!

Readings:

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):

Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History. A wonderful text that will give us a factual foundation for our discussion of a host of changes in the last 140 years. This, with lectures, will serve as mainstays for the course.
Ronald Takaki, A Larger Memory. A wonderful collection of short pieces giving us a huge variety of responses to the American past from every possible perspective..
John Hersey, Hiroshima. A book that was a cultural phenomenon itself in the 1940s, telling the story of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 from the perspective of a group of people in the city at the time. It will help to give us the background we need to understand the tensions of the cold war era.

Articles -- available via a web database:

Both of these articles are available via PROQUEST, an electronic database that the College subscribes to. IC-connected computers in labs and in the library can bring up these articles in full text for you to read or print. Those via ResNet (Dorms/off campus) require you to search Proquest Database (Library's database lists) for the articles. If you want to view/print the article as it appeared in the journals (images included), click "Full Text - PDF" on the right of your screen.

Barbara Ehrenreich, "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" Harper's Magazine (Jan. 1999): 38-52.
Richard Manning, "The Oil We Eat" Harper's Magazine (Feb. 2004): 37-45.

Not used this time, but still a very good article:

Benjamin Barber, "Jihad vs. McWorld" Atlantic Monthly (March 1992), 9 pp.

take a look also at his post-9/11 reflections on this thesis: "Beyond Jihad vs. McWorld" Nation (January 21, 2002), 5 pp.

Recommended Reading for all my classes:

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style. This is not required, and I did not specifically order copies for the course. It is, however, the most concise and helpful guide to strong writing, and I suggest that you purchase and read a copy. The student bookstore always has a stockpile of them, as do most used bookstores in town. It is cheap, short, and extremely helpful -- what a deal!
Jules R. Benjamin, A Student’s Guide to History. This slim volume contains a host of helpful guidelines for success as a student of history. Again, I do not require you to get this, but strongly advise it: this book can help in every stage of this course and far beyond it.

Writing:

I require four short quizzes in this course. These will each take 15 min., and involve defining and giving the historical significance of key terms that we use in class and in our readings.

In the first weeks of the course, you will write a brief paper based in some of the readings from Takaki.

Each of the exams will also include an essay; in addition, you will be asked to write short answers in class.

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 several 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 forms of popular culture 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 and responding to it.

Venture A -- (when underlined, you can click to it) An exploration into the changes in American culture and advertising by looking at American political Ads from the 1950s to the present.

Venture B -- (when underlined, you can click to it) An exploration of a fascinating website that shows the dramatic changes in the nature of American politics over the course of this whole class.

External Links to Appropriate Sites:

Exhibition on American sweatshops from 1820-present on the Museum of American History's website.
Early Films of New York City, 1898-1906 on the Library of Congress's American Memory Website.
First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920 -- an award winning website featured on the Library of Congress's American Memory website
The Spanish American War in Early Motion Pictures on the Library of Congress's American Memory website
Votes for women -- a part of the Library of Congress's American Memory Website exploring the long fight for women's suffrage that culminated in the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
Photographs from the "Golden Age of Jazz" on the Library of Congress's American Memory Website.
Photographs from the Depression and WWII from the Library of Congress's American Memory Website
Voices from the Dustbowl from the same collection
The website of the Holocaust Museum. See in particular the exhibit of the voyage of the St. Louis, which ties the plight of European Jews to contemporary prejudice in the US
Museum of American History's exhibit of WWII posters
Japanese Americans and the Constitution exhibit on the Museum of American History website
Exhibition on the Space Race, the effort by the USSR and the US to dominate rocket technology during the cold war. This is on the website of the National Air and Space Museum
Exhibition of items left at the Vietnam veterans memorial on the website of the Museum of American history
Museum of American History's exhibit of 1960s counter culture.
Closing -- the history of the closing of an American Factory. A terrific collection of photographs and interviews. An exploration of one community dealing with jobs moving overseas. This site is a part of the Museum of American History's website
Museum of American History's exhibit of Nixon photographs
Worldwatch Institute -- a source for current information on global issues, pollution, population pressures, and more.

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This website is occasionally maintained by Michael Trotti.
(Last update: 27 January 2012).