HSY2240

Modern America: the American people and the United States, 1877- 1960s

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Tony Wood and others

8 points
* Two lectures and one tutorial per week
* First semester
* Clayton
* With the permission of the head of the department, intending majors in English, politics or American studies with a special interest in American literature, US politics, or other area of American studies may take HSY2230 without having completed a first-year history sequence

Objectives Together with HSY2230/HSY3230 (Early America), this subject is intended to provide an introduction to American history since the Civil War, to impart a body of knowledge about that history, and thus to give students an understanding of American culture and politics and the place of the USA in the world.

Synopsis This subject provides an introduction to the history of the American people and the United States from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the 1960s, emphasising social and economic as well as political history. Attention will be paid to the study of race, gender and the history of working-class and ethnic minority cultures. Students will be encouraged to specialise in the study of aspects of US history which particularly interest them, eg in the long essay.

Assessment Document exercise (1000 words): 10%
* Long essay (3000 words): 40%
* Examination (2 hours): 40%
* Class participation and attendance: 10%

Prescribed texts

Bailyn B and others The great republic: A history of the American people 4th edn, Heath, 1992 or
Nash G B and others The American people: Creating a nation and a society 2nd edn, Harper and Row, 1990 or
Nash G B and others The American people: Creating a nation and a society Brief edn, Harper Collins, 1992

Recommended texts

Badger A J The new deal: The Depression years, 1933- 1940 Noonday, 1989
Daniels R Coming to America: A history of immigration and ethnicity in American life Harper, 1990
Evans S Born for liberty: A history of women in America Free Press, 1989
Green H The uncertainty of everyday life, 1915- 1945 Harper, 1993
Kennedy D M Over here: The First World War and American society OUP, 1980
Kirby J T Rural worlds lost: The American South, 1920- 1960 Louisiana U P, 1987
McCormick T J America's half century: United States foreign policy in the Cold War Johns Hopkins U P, 1989
Polenberg R War and society. The United States, 1941- 1945 Lippincott, 1972
Sitkoff H The struggle for black equality, 1954- 1980 Hill and Wang, 1981