Themes in United States History: 1914-1945

Purpose of the Course:

This course will provide an in-depth immersion in the historical development of the US from the onset of World War I to the end of World War II. The course will examine significant cultural, political, social, economic, and intellectual developments of the period. The course will also emphasize the use of films, novels, and other cultural products (such as advertising and fine arts) as artifacts of the time. The course will also aim to familiarize the student with historical method and historiography, emphasizing the construction of historical arguments (thesis, methodology, historiography, evidence, sources, research, and narrative), as well as identifying areas for further research.

Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend lectures and take part in discussions. Students must also read and assimilate required readings, and be prepared to discuss readings on the schedule given below. Students will submit all assignments on time; late papers will not be accepted without prior arrangement with the professor. Further, no student with more than two unexcused absences will receive a passing grade for the course.

A Note About Academic Integrity

Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by acts such as borrowing or purchasing term papers, essays, reports, and other written assignments; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying others' work and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in failure in the course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal from the College.

Contacting the Professor:

My office is in 2N 203, and my office phone is 718-982-2869; I have office hours Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:15 to 3:15, Tuesdays 1:20-2:30, and by appointment. You may also reach me via email at lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu.

Assignments:

Weekly Writing Assignments: Each week you will be asked to write an informal response to a series of questions about the readings and lectures; this will constitute the majority of written work for this course. Your grades for these essays will be averaged, and the average will account for 40% of your course grade. Due throughout course.
Artifact Assignment: Your semester-long assignment will be to choose one historical artifact of the period from 1914-1945 (such as a novel, artwork, building, political speech or essay, etc.), and analyze it in an essay. This will account for 40% of your course grade. Due 7 December 1999.
Participation: You will be required to attend class and take part in discussions. This will account for 20% of your course grade.

Required Texts:

Selections from George Brown Tindall, America: A Narrative History
Susan Hegeman, Patterns for America: Modernism and the Concept of Culture
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Steven Watson, The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930
John Steinbeck, The Harvest Gypsies
Peter Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson
Glen Jeansonne, Messiah of the Masses: Huey P. Long and the Great Depression

Required Films:

D.W. Griffith, The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Charlie Chaplin, The Immigrant (1917) and Easy Street (1917)
King Vidor, The Crowd (1928)
John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Michael Curtiz, Casablanca (1942)

Additional Materials:

There are additional optional materials for this course on the WWW at http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/339links.html

Course Schedule:

Week One: Introduction
	Tuesday, August 31	Discussion of Course Requirements, Introduction to New Media/Computer Lab (click here for Professor Lavender's tutorial on using the WWW at http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/csitutor.html).
	Readings: Tindall, chs. 25-30
Week Two: Defining the Problems of the Era
	Tuesday, September 7	Overview of Course Themes, Historiography, and History, Film as Historical Artifact; View and discuss selections from The Birth of a Nation
	Readings: Hegeman, Patterns for America
Week Three: The Ends of Progressivism
	Tuesday, September 14	1919--Scandals, Strikes, and Suffrage; View and discuss Easy Street and The Immigrant
	Readings: Tindall, ch. 25; Hegeman, Patterns for America
Week Four: No Class
	Tuesday, September 21	Classes follow a Monday schedule
	Readings: Hegeman, Patterns for America
Week Five: Modernist Culture in America
	Tuesday, September 28	Redefining Self and "Other"
	Readings: Hegeman, Patterns for America
Week Six: Forging a National Culture
	Tuesday, October 5	How We Know Who We Are; discuss Hegeman, Patterns for America
	Readings: Tindall, ch. 26; Hegeman, Patterns for America; Watson, The Harlem Renaissance
Week Seven: The Harlem Renaissance Transforms American Culture
	Tuesday, October 12	Race and Renaissance; Discuss Watson, The Harlem Renaissance
	Readings: Watson, The Harlem Renaissance; F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Week Eight: American Dreams, Lost and Found
	Tuesday, October 19	Advertising and the American Dream; Discuss Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
	Readings: Tindall, ch. 27; F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson
Week Nine: American Dreams
	Tuesday, October 26	Men of Virtue and Honor; View and Discuss The Crowd
	Readings: Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson; Steinbeck, The Harvest Gypsies
Week Ten: Dreams Deferred
	Tuesday, November 2	American Blues; discuss Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson
	Readings: Steinbeck, The Harvest Gypsies
Week Eleven: A New Deal Aesthetic
	Tuesday, November 9	WPA Artists and the Dust Bowl; discuss John Steinbeck, The Harvest Gypsies
	Readings: Tindall, ch. 28; Steinbeck, The Harvest Gypsies; Jeansonne, Messiah of the Masses
Week Twelve: Living Through the Depression
	Tuesday, November 16	Region and the Depression; View and Discuss The Grapes of Wrath
	Readings: Jeansonne, Messiah of the Masses
Week Thirteen: Other New Deals
	Tuesday, November 23	Other Options and Cultural Critics; Discuss Jeansonne, Messiah of the Masses
Week Fourteen: From Isolation to World Leadership
	Tuesday, November 30	From Neutrality to Nonbelligerency; View and Discuss Casablanca
	Readings: Tindall, ch. 30
Week Fifteen: Summing Up
	Tuesday, December 7	How We Know Who We Are, Redux (Last Day of Class; Artifact Assignments Due)

Prepared by Professor Catherine Lavender for History 339 (Themes in U.S. History, 1914-1945), The Department of History, The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York. Send email to lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu
Fall Semester 1999. Last modified: Tuesday 14 September 1999.