Fall 2003

HIS 315L • United States since 1865

Course Description

This course examines the history of the United States from the end of Reconstruction through most of the twentieth century. The first third of the course focuses on the great forces of change—industrialization; urbanization; and immigration—that transformed the country from an agrarian and commercial republic into an urban, industrial society. Here we explore the reactions of various groups of Americans, in particular entrepreneurs, industrialists, immigrants and the native born, factory workers, urban politicians, and farmers as they struggled to cope with the new world around them. The course then shifts its emphasis to the growing role of the federal government in American life as the state takes on the jobs of regulation, welfare and national security. Among the topics covered are the interacting cycles of liberal reform and conservation reaction, global wars and the culture “wars” between modernism and traditionalism, the civil rights movement and other brands of rights-based reform, the emergence of the cold war and its consequences at home and abroad.

Grading Policy

2 hour exams worth 25 percent of the course grade 1 final exam worth 50 percent of the course grade 1 1000-word paper worth one-third of the final exam grade

Texts

Davidson et al., NATION OF NATIONS: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, Vol. II Davidson & Lytle, AFTER THE FACT, Vol. II Riordon, PLUNKITT OF TAMMANY HALL Wright, BLACK BOY Stoff et al., eds., THE MANHATTAN PROJECT: A DOCUMENTARY INTRODUCTION TO THE ATOMIC AGE

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