Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 17:58:23 -0500 Subject: SYLLABUS: Grad rdgs in 20th c. political history
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 17:40:26 -0400 (EDT)
Fall 1994 Robert Johnston M, 1:30-3:20 p.m. HGS 300F History 735A (0) 432-1396 HGS 218 (H) 389-9184 Office Hours: Th, 10-12 Email: rjohnsto@minerva
GRADUATE READINGS IN 20TH-CENTURY AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY
After a considerable time in the margins, political history appears to be returning to the center of our discipline. Some of the most creative and significant current work in American history revolves around issues of power, broadly defined.
The purpose of this course is to provide a sample of the most interesting, most complex, and most significant work in political history. The focus is at times a bit idiosyncratic. Special attention, for example, goes to biographies and studies that explore issues of class, social theory, and radicalism. Also, we will reexamine sections of older classics to see how they might continue to speak to us.
The requirements for the course include active participation in weekly discussions, three short papers, an annotated bibliography on a topic of your choice, and subscription to three electronic history discussion lists: H-Pol, H-State, and H-Grad.
Books marked with a "*" are available for purchase at the Yale Co-Op Bookstore. In addition, a required packet with the remaining readings is available at Minitprint, 13 Broadway.
COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1, September 5
INTRODUCTION
WEEK 2, September 12
NINETEENTH CENTURY LEGACIES: MARXIST AND REPUBLICAN PERSPECTIVES
William E. Leuchtenburg, "The Pertinence of Political History:
Reflections on the Significance of the State in America,"
Journal of American History 73(December 1986): 585-600
*David Montgomery, Citizen Worker: The Experience of Workers in the
United States with Democracy and the Free Market during the
Nineteenth Century (1993)
*Nick Salvatore, Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist (1982)
Werner Sombart, excerpt from Why Is There No Socialism in America?
(1906), in John H. M. Laslett and Seymour Martin Lipset,
Failure of a Dream? Essays in the History of American
Socialism, revised edition (1984), pp. 452-467
Aileen Kraditor, "The Ghost of Werner Sombart," in The Radical
Persuasion, 1890-1917: Aspects of the History and the
Historiography of Three American Radical Organizations (1981),
pp. 38-54
WEEK 3, September 19
THINKING BIG
Origins of Social Policy in the United States (1992)
Louis Hartz, "The Concept of a Liberal Society," in The Liberal
Tradition in America (1955), pp. 3-32
Paula Baker, "The Domestication of Politics: Women and American
Political Society, 1780-1920," American Historical Review 89
(June 1984)
Linda Gordon, "Gender, State, and Society: A Debate With Theda
Skocpol," Contention 2(Spring 1993): 138-156
Theda Skocpol, "Gendered Identities in Early U.S. Social Policy,"
Contention 2(Spring 1993): 157-183
Linda Gordon, "Response to Theda Skocpol," Contention 2(Spring
1993): 185-189
WEEK 4, September 26
CORPORATE LIBERALISM, PROGRESSIVISM, AND THE MODERN STATE
Capitalism, 1890-1916: The Market, the Law, and Politics (1988)
Richard L. McCormick, "The Discovery that Business Corrupts
Politics: A Reappraisal of the Origins of Progressivism," The
Party Period and Public Policy: American Politics from the Age
of Jackson to the Progressive Era (1986) [1981], pp. 311-356
Gerald Berk, "Corporate Liberalism Reconsidered: A Review Essay,"
and James Livingston, "A Reply to Gerald Berk," Journal of
Policy History 3(1991): 70-89
WEEK 5, October 3
SEXUALITY, THE PERSONAL, AND THE GENDERED PUBLIC SPHERE
Blanche Wiesen Cook, "Female Support Networks and Political
Activism: Lillian Wald, Crystal Eastman, Emma Goldman," in
Nancy F.Cott and Elizabeth H. Pleck, eds., A Heritage of Her
Own: Toward a New Social History of American Women (1979)
[1977], pp. 412-445
Ellen Carol DuBois, "Working Women, Class Relations, and Suffrage
Militance: Harriot Stanton Blatch and the New York Woman
Suffrage Movement, 1894-1909," Journal of American History
74(June 1987): 34-58
WEEK 6, October 10
THE PROMISE, AND DANGERS, OF SYNTHESIS
Liberal State (1991)
Richard Hofstadter, "From Progressivism to the New Deal," in The
Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R (1955), pp. 270-326
Thomas Bender, "Wholes and Parts: The Need for Synthesis in
American History," Journal of American History 73 (December
1986): 120-136
Thomas Ferguson, "Industrial Conflict and the Coming of the New
Deal: The Triumph of Multinational Liberalism in America," in
Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle, eds., The Rise and Fall of the
New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (1989), pp. 3-31
WEEK 7, October 17
HOW RADICAL WERE THOSE WORKERS?
1919-1939 (1990)
"A Symposium on Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago:
1919-1939," Labor History 32(Fall 1991): 562-596, comments by
Jo Ann E. Argersinger, Patricia Cooper, Nancy Gabin, James R.
Grossman, Walter Licht, Bruce Nelson, and Lizabeth Cohen
William E. Leuchtenburg, "The Roosevelt Revolution: Retrospect," in
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940 (1963), pp.
326-348
Richard Oestreicher, "Urban Working-Class Political Behavior and
Theories of American Electoral Politics," Journal of American
History 74(March 1988): 1257-1286
WEEK 8, October 24
FROM CLASS POLITICS TO MASS POLITICS
American Labor (1991)
Elizabeth Faue, "'The Dynamo of Change': Gender and Solidarity in
the American Labour Movement of the 1930s," Gender and History
1(Summer 1988): 138-158
Stephen Skowronek, "Franklin Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency,"
Studies in American Political Development 6(Fall 1992): 322-
358
Alan Brinkley, "The New Deal and the Idea of the State," in New
Deal Order, pp. 85-121
WEEK 9, October 31
RED APPROACHES TO THE RED DECADE
Great Depression (1990)
Farmer-Labor Party and the American Political Economy (1989)
Theodore Draper, "Afterword," in American Communism and Soviet
Russia: The Formative Period (1986), pp. 445-482
Elizabeth Faue, "Women, Family, and Politics: Farmer-Labor Women
and Social Policy in the Great Depression," in Louise A. Tilly
and Patricia Gurin, eds., Women, Politics, and Change (1990),
pp. 436-456
David Brian Robertson, "The Return to History and the New
Institutionalism in American Political Science," Social
Science History 17(Spring 1993): 1-36
WEEK 10, November 7
THE POLITICS OF INTELLECTUALS
skim chs. 1, 3, 5, and pp. 321-361
Christopher Lasch, "The Anti-Intellectualism of the Intellectuals,"
in The New Radicalism in America, 1889-1963: The Intellectual
as Social Type (1966), pp. 286-349
Nelson Lichtenstein, "From Corporatism to Collective Bargaining:
Organized Labor and the Eclipse of Social Democracy in the
Postwar Era," in New Deal Order, pp. 122-152
WEEK 11, November 14
POSTWAR POLITICS: IN RED AND BLACK
Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990, revised 2nd edition (1991)
Robin D. G. Kelley, "The Riddle of the Zoot: Malcolm Little and
Black Cultural Politics During World War II," in Joe Wood,
ed., Malcolm X: In Our Own Image (1992), pp. 155-182
Jacqueline Jones, "The Political Implications of Black and White
Women's Work in the South, 1890-1965," in Tilly and Gurin,
Women, Politics, and Change, pp. 108-129
Perspective (1990)
Amy Swerdlow, "Ladies Day at the Capitol: Women Strike for Peace
versus HUAC," Feminist Studies 8(Fall 1982), 493-520
Robert B. Westbrook, "Fighting for the American Family: Private
Interests and Political Obligation in World War II," pp. 194-
221 in Richard Wightman Fox and T. J. Jackson Lears, eds., The
Power of Culture: Critical Essays in American History (1993)
Elaine Tyler May, "Cold War--Warm Hearth: Politics and the Family
in Postwar America," in New Deal Order, pp. 153-181
WEEK 12, November 21
WEEK 13, November 28
BREAKING BOUNDARIES?
1967-1975 (1989)
Participation in American Commercial Power, 1945-1975 (1991)
Barbara and John Ehrenreich, "The Professional-Managerial Class" in
Pat Walker, ed., Between Labor and Capital (1979), pp. 5-45
John Patrick Diggins, "The New Left," in The Rise and Fall of the
American Left (1992), pp. 218-276
Ira Katznelson, "Was the Great Society a Lost Opportunity?," in New
Deal Order, pp. 185-211
Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, "The Failure and Success of the
New Radicalism," in New Deal Order, pp. 212-242
WEEK 14, Date to be announced
PESSIMISM OF THE INTELLECT, OPTIMISM OF THE WILL
(1990)
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., "The Cycles of American Politics,"
in The Cycles of American History (1986), pp. 23-48
Anne Norton, "The President as Sign," pp. 87-121 in Republic of
Signs: Liberal Theory and American Popular Culture (1993)
Alan Brinkley, "The Problem of American Conservatism," American
Historical Review 99(April 1994): 409-429
Susan M. Yohn, "Will the Real Conservative Please Stand Up? or, The
Pitfalls Involved in Examining Ideological Sympathies: A
Comment on Alan Brinkley's 'Problem of American
Conservatism'," American Historical Review 99(April 1994):
430-437
Leo P. Ribuffo, "Why Is There So Much Conservatism in the United
States and Why Do So Few Historians Know Anything about It?,"
American Historical Review 99(April 1994): 438-449
Alan Brinkley, "Response to the Comments of Leo Ribuffo and Susan
Yohn," American Historical Review 99(April 1994): 450-452
Jonathan Rieder, "The Rise of the 'Silent Majority'," in New Deal
Order, pp. 243-268
Thomas Byrne Edsall, "The Changing Shape of Power: A Realignment in
Public Policy," in New Deal Order, pp. 269-293
OPTIONAL, BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
Max Weber, "Politics as a Vocation" and "Science as a Vocation," in
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (1958) [1921, 1922]
>>> Item number 1148, dated 94/10/31 08:18:43 -- ALL
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 08:18:43 -0600 Reply-To: H-Net Political History discussion list <H-POL@UICVM.BITNET> Sender: H-Net Political History discussion list <H-POL@UICVM.BITNET> From: H-Pol co-moderator Peter Knupfer <pknupfer@ksu.ksu.edu> Subject: SYLLABUS: Modern America, 1877-1929 (x State)
HISTORY 367: MODERN AMERICA, 1877-1929
Time: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00-11:00, and
some Tuesdays 7:00-10:00 pm, Busch 100
Instructor: Mark Kornbluh
Office: 126 Busch 5-4256
Office Hours: Mondays 1:00-2:00, Wednesdays, 11:00-12:00,
and Fridays 10:00-12:00
This course will concentrate on the crucial decades which saw the emergence of modern American culture and society. Our approach will be unconventional. Instead of focusing on individual events and great men, we will look at broad social patterns. Focus will be on the monumental social forces which transformed American life in this period -- industrialization, immigration, and urbanization -- and how Americans understood and adapted to the changes going on around them. Particular attention will be paid to the rise of big business and big government and to changes in the nature of everyday life, including work, family, school, and leisure.
REQUIRED BOOKS:
Lewis Atherton, Main Street on the Middle Border.
Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers.
William L. Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall.
Nell Irvin Painter, Standing At Armageddon: The United States,
1877-1919.
Lawrence Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural
Hierarchy in America.
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle.
William M. Tuttle, Jr., Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer
of 1919.
Paula S. Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in
the 1920s.
A READER CONTAINING ALL OF THE REQUIRED ARTICLES IS ON SALE IN THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT.
MOVIE SCHEDULE: During the course of the semester 5 films will be shown in Busch 100 on Tuesday evenings beginning at 7:00 pm. Attendance is a required part of the course and discussions will follow the movies. (All of these films are also available in the audio-visual room of Olin Library.)
September 8: Birth of a Nation.
October 6: 1877-The Grand Army of Starvation.
October 27: Chaplain Shorts.
November 17: Inherit the Wind.
December 1: The Great Gatsby.
COURSE SCHEDULE:
Week of August 26: Introduction: Nineteenth-Century America.
Lectures Wednesday and Friday (No sections this week.) Readings: Begin Atherton, Main Street on the Middle Border.
Week of August 31: The Frontier and The Community.
Friday Discussion: Small Town America. Readings: Atherton, Main Street on the Middle Border, pp. 1-216; and Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper."
Week of September 7: Black America.
No Class on Monday 9/7 Labor Day.
FILM TUESDAY 7 PM: Birth of a Nation.
Friday Discussion: Red and Black in White America.
Readings: "The Life Story of a Negro Peon;" "A Sharecrop Contract"; "Memoirs of a Negro Nurse"; Plessy vs. Ferguson; Washington, "Education Before Equality"; Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men; Levine, "Freedom, Culture, and Religion"; Gish, From The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me; and Readings on "Birth of a Nation."
Week of September 14: Urban America and Immigrant Life.
Friday Discussion: Immigrants, Poverty, and the City. Readings: Yezierska, The Bread Givers; Strong, "Perils -- Immigrations"; Riis, "The Common Herd"; MacLean, "Two Weeks in Department Stores"; Thernstrom, "Urbanization, Migration, and Mobility"; and Baltzell, "The Social Defenses of the Rich."
Week of September 21: Nineteenth-Century Politics. Friday Discussion: Plunkitt and Participatory Politics. Readings: Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall; McGerr, "Partisanship"; and Baker, "The Ceremonies of Politics."
Week of September 28: Economic Change and Social Transformation.
No Class on Monday 9/28 Rosh Hashanah.
Lectures Wednesday and Friday (No sections this week).
Readings: Atherton, Main Street on the Middle Border, pp. 217-359; Chandler, "The Beginnings of 'Big Business'"; and Montgomery, "Worker's Control of Machine Production."
Week of October 5: "Standing at Armageddon."
Lecture on Monday.
FILM TUESDAY 7 PM: 1877-The Grand Army of Starvation.
No Class on Wednesday 10/7 Yom Kippur.
Friday Discussion: The Crisis of the Late Nineteenth Century. Readings: Painter, Standing at Armageddon, pp. ix-140.
Week of October 12: Nationalism and Imperialism.
No Class on Friday 10/16 Fall Break (No sections this week). Readings: Painter, Standing at Armageddon, pp. 141-69; Rosenberg, "Capitalists, Christians, and Cowboys"; Roosevelt, "The Strenuous Life"; and Twain on American Imperialism.
MIDTERM PAPER DUE 10/15 4 pm in History Office.
Week of October 19: The Reorientation of American Culture.
Friday Discussion: Modern American Culture. Readings: Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow, pp. 1-81, 104-146, 171-256; and Rosenszweig, "From Rum Shop to Rialto: Workers and Movies."
Week of October 26: The Progressive Resolution: Social Reform.
FILM TUESDAY 7 PM: Chaplain Short Subjects.
Friday Discussion: The Jungle.
Readings: Sinclair, The Jungle; and Addams, "A Function of the Social Settlement."
Week of November 2: The Progressive Resolution: Social Control.
Friday Discussion: Twentieth-Century American Democracy. Readings: Hays, "The Politics of Reform in Municipal Government"; Charts on Voter Participation; and Painter, Standing at Armageddon, pp. 170-282.
Week of November 9: The First World War.
Friday Discussion: World War I.
Readings: Painter, pp. 283-390; Woodrow Wilson's War Message;
Bourne, "Twilight of Idols"; Dos Passos, "The Scene of Battle";
cummings, "Bureaucratic Dehumanization"; Hemingway, "Nausea"; The
Fourteen Points, 1918; The Lodge Reservations, 1919; and Wilson
Defends the League.
Week of November 16: Cultural Conflict.
FILM TUESDAY 7 PM: Inherit the Wind.
Friday Discussion: Racial Strife.
Readings: Tuttle, Race Riot; Du Bois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others"; The Niagra Movement Declaration of Principles; The NAACP Program for Change; Du Bois, "The Waco Horror"; Readings from Congressional Record on Immigration Restriction; and Hiram Wesley Evans, "The KKK."
Week of November 23: The Women's Movement.
No Class Wednesday 11/25 or Friday 11/27 Thanksgiving. Readings: Stetson, Spencer, and Addams on Women's Suffrage and Rights; and Begin Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful.
Week of November 30: The Ambivalent Decade.
FILM TUESDAY 7 PM: The Great Gatsby.
Friday Discussion: The Twenties -- "The Damned and the
Beautiful."
Readings: Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful; Lewis, "Boosters -- Pep!"; Hoover, "The Constructive Instinct"; Barton, "Jesus as Businessman"; Susman,"Culture Heroes: Ford, Barton, and Ruth"; and Ward, "The Meaning of Lindbergh's Flight;"
Week of December 7: The Birth of Modern America.
FINAL PAPER DUE MONDAY DECEMBER 14 AT 10:00 AM.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
This class is designed as a lecture, reading, viewing, and discussion course. I will lecture twice each week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:00-11:00 am (and on a couple of Fridays as noted on the syllabus). Most Fridays the class will be divided into four small sections to facilitate discussion of the readings for that week. Discussion sections will be assigned the first week of the semester and are an integral part of the course. Both attendance and participation are therefore essential. We will also meet five Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm to view and discuss films.
Discussion sections will count for 25% of the course grade. Short written assignments will be due at each section meeting. These will be assigned weekly and will usually entail listing questions for discussion, outlining a reading, or writing a short think-piece. Completing all of the weekly readings and preparing for section by putting effort into these weekly assignments can significantly improve your final grade. Section grades will be based equally on these assignments and on oral participation.
In addition there will be take-home midterm and final exams. The midterm will be worth 35% and the final 40% of the course grade. (Both will be assigned well in advance and are expected in on time.)
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