Course Description & Objectives:

World War II laid waste to most European nations’ infrastructures and shattered the power of the colonial empires that had largely dominated the globe since the 18th century.  Though America did suffer losses during WWII, it emerged from the war as the new world power.  Its industry out produced the rest of the world combined, its infrastructure and scholarly institutions were stronger than ever, its population was rapidly expanding, and it alone possessed the Atomic Bomb.  With this new found power, America began a tumultuous half-century that was marked by massive struggles for civil and human rights, aggressive and ruthless business practices, odd and exciting cultural innovations, drastic shifts in social structures, and an astounding consumption spree (some sources suggest that Americans consumed more between 1950 and 2000 than every human that had ever existed before 1950). 

 

This course is designed to address this fascinating era in American history.  I will cover the major political and “historic” events chronologically via lectures and readings, and these will serve as the base for the larger focus of the class—the issues that have played a major role in the past sixty years and continue to be important today.  These include civil rights, the evil “other,” gender roles, teen and alternative cultures, urbanization and suburbanization, and the consequences of capitalism.  To get at these subjects we will use “cultural studies” methods that borrow from such disciplines as anthropology, literary analysis, media studies, and cultural geography.  Films, suburbs, novels, nuclear weapons, autobiographies, photos, television, malls, pop-music, cars, computers and the internet will all figure into our examination of how Americans have shaped and been shaped by the past six decades.

     In this class you will learn about American history from World War II to the present and you will learn how to “read” a variety of cultural documents.  Our “texts” will include academic articles, primary documents, novels, autobiographies, films, music, television programs, and on-line blogs & websites.  The class will progress via weekly themes that are spelled out on the schedule below; do note the assigned texts for each week.     Read.     Think.     Be prepared to discuss.      This is important.

 

The ONE thing I really want from you is informed, creative, original thought.  That, in my opinion, is what education is all about. This is not a class in which you can just attend lectures, read the books, and do well.  My advice to you is to participate fully.  Come to office hours and talk about things.  Ask questions and discuss class material with other students.  If you have any questions, come see me.  Though I’m a newcomer to this city I’ve already found that it is full of wonderful cafés—I would be happy to use them as places to further our discussions.

 

 

Requirements & Evaluation:

Exams:  There will be two exams; each will consist of a short-answer identification section (IDs) and an essay. The IDs will be key names, words, or phrases that you will be expected to identify and explain in a short answer.  To do this successfully you must answer both the “what” and the “so what.”  For example, if the term were “Michael Jackson” the “what” would be: a pop star of the 1980s and 1990s whose album “Thriller” was one of the best selling albums ever.  The “so what” would be: Jackson is important because he helped bring about a new era in pop music as he helped define the new visual aspect of pop music with his elaborate videos that included story-lines and dance.  He also bent both gender and racial lines as his voice and lyrics were often gender neutral (he sang in a higher range than his sister, Janet) and through extensive cosmetic surgery, his own appearance shifted from black to white to freakish.  You will be given ten IDs and will be expected to answer five.  For the essay you will be expected to answer fully, using concrete examples from the lectures and texts.

Thesis Essays: A Thesis Essay is a short writing assignment (450-550 words) that presents a concise, well-articulated and insightful thesis that outlines and/or argues a key point or question raised by the readings and/or activities covered.  A good thesis is supported with examples and evidence that “prove” its argument or statement.  I will expect excellence of style, grammar, & thought.  During class discussion you may be asked to present your thesis when called upon and you should be able to present and defend it when questioned.  This may sound intimidating now, but if done well this process will foster good, informed discussions that may actually be fun.  Really.

Participation & Attendance:  I take this seriously.  Be engaged in discussions and attentive during class.  Keep up with the readings and other assignments and participate in class activities; this does constitute a large portion of your grade.

Assignments & Scoring

Exam I                                                =          20%

Exam II                                               =          20%

Thesis Essays (4 x 10%)                       =          40%

Participation (attendance & quizzes)      =          20%

Grades will be based on a ten-point scale:

5 = 100-90%             4 = 89-80%            3 = 79-70%            2 = 60-69%           1 = 59-0%

Reading List:

Slaughterhouse Five.  Kurt Vonnegut

Catcher in the Rye.  J.D. Salinger

Coming of Age in Mississippi.  Anne Moody

 

The Things They Carried.  Tim O’Brien

Generation X.  Douglas Coupland

How to Succeed at Globalization.  El Fisgón

Film List: Since the 1920s, films have been a major part of US culture, arguably more important than any other medium until the advent of a mass TV audience in the early-1950s.  Because of this, we will examine several films (and a few TV series) to help us better understand the era.  Below is a large list of films; I will make many of them available to you in the library and we will do screenings of several of them.  Please take advantage of these, and bring your friends.  They’ll be fun.

Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Propaganda films (1940s-1950s)

High Noon (1952)

Shane (1953)

The Blackboard Jungle (1955)

I Love Lucy  (1950s TV)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)

The Graduate (1967)

Guess Who’s coming to Dinner (1967)

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Easy Rider (1969)

Harold & Maude (1971)

Shaft (1971)

The Candidate (1972)

All the President’s Men (1976)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Star Wars (1977)

Annie Hall (1977)

Nine to Five (1980)

Tootsie (1982)

Rambo, First Blood II (1985)

Breakfast Club (1985)

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Malcolm X (1992)

Dazed & Confused (1993)

Hoop Dreams (1994)

Nixon (1995)

Citizen Ruth (1996)

Slam (1998)

Anthem (2000)

Bamboozled (2000)

8 Mile (2002)

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Real Women Have Curves (2002)

The Fog of War (2003)

Crash (2004)

Thank You for Smoking (2005)