Literature of American History, II; Spring 2006

KC Johnson

kcjohnson9@gmail.com

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson

This course examines themes in historiography on topics in post-Civil War U.S. history.

Schedule: Links to purchase books are available on course website

• January 30: Introduction
   
• February 6: Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution
  Study Questions
   
• February 13: No class—college closed
   
• February 21: David Nasaw, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst
  study questions: Alan
  supplementary readings:
  --Elizabeth F.: Morton Keller, Affairs of State
  --Gwynneth: Sven Beckert, The Monied Metropolis
   
• February 27: Daniel Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age
  study questions: Sophie
  supplementary readings:
  --Will: David Healy, Drive to Hegemony
  --Brendan: Michael McGerr, The Decline of Popular Politics
  --Jenifer: Robert Wiebe, The Search for Order
   
• March 6: Alan Brinkley, End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War
  study questions: Elizabeth F.
  supplementary readings:
  --Jenifer: C. Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream
  --Alexis: Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal
  --Alan: Colin Gordon, New Deals
   
• March 13: Michael Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality
  study questions: David
  supplementary readings:
  --Elizabeth C.: Ira Katznelson, When Affirmative Action Was White
  --Evan: Kevin McMahon, Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race
   
• March 20: Chen Jian, Mao's China and the Cold War
  study questions: Joseph
  supplementary readings:
  --David: Melvyn Leffler, Preponderance of Power
  --Gwynneth: John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War
   
• March 27: Penny Von Eschen, Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937-1957
  study questions: Evan
  supplementary readings:
  --Alexis: Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound
  --Elizabeth C., Jonathan Rosenberg, How Far the Promised Land?
   
• April 3: Thomas Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit
  study questions: Alexis
  supplementary readings:
  --Joseph: Nelson Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit
  --Alan: Robert Caro, The Power Broker
   
• April 10: No class-Cornell talk
   
• April 17: No class—spring break
   

• April 24: Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65
  study questions: Elizabeth C.
  supplementary readings:
  --Sophie: Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America
  --David: Colin Gordon, Dead on Arrival
   

• May 1: Fredrick Logevall, Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam
  study questions: Brendan
  supplementary readings:
  --Will: Tim Naftali, "One Hell of a Gamble"
  --Joseph: Stephen Rabe, U.S. Intervention in British Guiana
   
• May 8: Dan Carter, The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics
  study questions: Gwynneth
  supplementary readings:
  --Evan: Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors
  --Elizabeth F.: Rick Perlstein, Before the Storm
   
• May 15: Judith Stein, Running Steel, Running America: Race, Economic Policy, and the Decline of Liberalism
  study questions: Jenifer
  supplementary readings:
  --Brendan: Bruce Schulman, The Seventies
  --Sophie: E.J. Dionne, Why Americans Hate Politics

Requirements:

• Informed participation: 40%
• Historiographical essay (12-15 pages): 30%
• Supplementary book summaries (two sets): 20%
• Study questions (one set): 10%