This course examines that social movement and the evolution of the United States from a rural and small-town society to an urban and suburban nation. Cities, and especially Chicago, have long offered some of the best laboratories for the study of American history, social structure, economic development and cultural change. Certain problems and themes recur throughout the course of American urban and cultural history which will be focal points of this seminar: the interaction of private commerce with cultural change; the rise of distinctive working and middle classes; the segregation of public and private space; the formation of new and distinctive urban subcultures organized by gender, work, race, religion, ethnicity, and sexuality; problems of health and housing resulting from congestion; and blatant social divisions between the rich and poor, the native-born and immigrant, and blacks and whites. This colloquium will thus provide a historiographical introduction to the major questions and issues in the culture and social life of American cities.

The course requirements include one 15-20 page typewritten essay (50%), an oral report (25%) and class participation (25%). Essay guidelines can be found at the end of this syllabus. A primary responsibility of students is to complete the weekly reading before the date of the scheduled class and contribute their thoughtful, reflective opinions in class discussion. The readings can be interpreted in a variety of ways and students should formulate some initial positions and questions to offer in the class discussion. For every article or book, students should be prepared to answery all of the questions found in the "Critical Reading" section of the syllabus below. All required readings may be purchased at Beck's Bookstore in the Granada Center on Sheridan Road. Students do not have to buy any of the books since each one has been placed on reserve at Cudahy Library.

Students who are disabled or impaired should meet with the professor within the first two weeks of the semester to discuss the need for any special arrangements.

William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991).

Oral Report: "William Cronon's Nature's Metropolis: A Symposium," Antipode, 26 (1994), 113-76.
Peter A. Coclanis, "Urbs in Horto," Reviews in American History, 20 (1992), 14-20.

David Schuyler, The New Urban Landscape: The Redefinition of City Form in Nineteenth-Century America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 1986).

Oral Report: Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People: A History of Central Park (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992).

16 Sept.: MIDNIGHT BIKE RIDE - Urban and Social History in Chicago (Rain Date: 23 Sept. 1999)

Preliminary bibliographies due.

Timothy J. Gilfoyle, City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992).
Timothy J. Gilfoyle, "Prostitutes in History: From Parables of Pornography to Metaphors of Modernity," American Historical Review, 104 (Feb. 1999), 117-41.

Oral Report: George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World (New York: Basic Books, 1994).

William R. Leach, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power and the Rise of New American Culture (New York: Random House, 1993).

Oral Report: Lawrence Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1988, pp. 1-82, 219-42.
OR
Richard Bushman, The Refinement of America (New York: Knopf, 1991), pp. xi-xix, 353-447.

William Riordan, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, introduction by Terrence McDonald (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1992), orig. 1905), esp. "How George Washington Plunkitt Became Plunkitt of Tammany Hall."

Oral Report: Philip J. Ethington, The Public City: The Political Construction of Urban Life in San Francisco, 1850-1900 (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994), pp. 1-42, 345-418.
OR
Terrence J. McDonald, The Parameters of Urban Fiscal Policy: Socioeconomic Change and Political Culture in San Francisco, 1860 - 1906 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), ix-xii, 1-18, 85-115, 262-82.
Terrence J. McDonald, "The Problem of the Political in Recent American Urban History: Liberal Pluralism and the Rise of Functionalism," Social History, 10 (1985), 324-45.

Robert A. Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950 (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1985).

Oral Report: Robert A. Orsi, "The Religious Boundaries of an Inbetween People: Street Feste and the Problem of the Dark-Skinned Other in Italian Harlem, 1920-1990," American Quarterly, 44 (1992), 313-47.
Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), pp. 3-32, 87-141.

Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1995).

Oral Report: Daniel Bluestone, Constructing Chicago (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991).
OR
Stanley K. Schultz, Constructing Urban Culture: American Cities and City Planning, 1800-1920 (Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1989).

Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

Oral Report: "Symposium on Making a New Deal by Lizabeth Cohen," Labor History, 32 (1991), 562-598.
Kathleen Neils Conzen, David A. Gerber, Ewa Morawska, George Pozzetta, Rudolph J. Vecoli, "The Invention of Ethnicity: A Prespective from the U.S.A.," Journal of American Ethnic History, 12 (1992), 3-63.
OR
Olivier Zunz, The Changing Face of Inequality: Urbanization, Industrial Development, and Immigrants in Detroit, 1880-1920 (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1982).

Movie: The City (1939).

Recommended: Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities (New York, 1938), esp. 3-12, 143-299, 392-421, 486-93; idem, The City in History (New York: Harcourt, 1961), esp. 3-54, 119-182, 205-314, 410-578.

Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).

Oral Report: Robert Bruegmann, "Schaumburg, Oak Brook, Rosemont, and the Recentering of the Chicago Metropolitan Area," in John Zukowsky, ed., Chicago Architecture, 1923-1993: Reconfiguration of an American Metropolis (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), 159-77.
James L. Wunsch, "The Suburban Cliche," Journal of Social History, 28 (1995), 643-58.
Andrew Wiese, "The Other Suburbanites: African American Suburbanization in the North before 1950," Journal of American History (March 1999).
Lizabeth Cohen, "From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America."
Thomas W. Hanchett, "U.S. Tax Policy and the Shopping Center Boom of the 1950s and 1960s."
Kenneth T. Jackson, "All the World's a Mall: Reflections on the Social and Econmic Consequences of the American Shopping Center," all in American Historical Review, 101 (1996), 1050-1121.

Thomas J. Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

Oral Report: "Symposium on Thomas J. Sugrue: The Origins of the Urban Crisis," Labor History, 39 (1998), 43-69.
OR
Arnold Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983).

John Findlay, Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), esp. 1-116.
Mike Davis, Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster (New York: Metropolitan, 1998), esp. 3-194, 357-422.
Allen J. Scott and Edward W. Soja, "Introduction to Los Angeles: City and Region."
Richard Weinstein, "The First American City."
Harvey Molotch, "L.A. as Design Product: How Art Works in a Regional Economy," all in Scott and Soja, eds., The City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1996), 1-46, 225-75.

Oral Report: Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (London: Verso, 1990).
Ted Rohrlich, "Seer of L.A. or Blinded by Its Light?" Los Angeles Times, 13 April 1999.
Veronique de Turenne, "Is Mike Davis' Los Angeles All in His Head?" Salon (7 Dec. 1998):http://www.salonmagazine.com/it/feature/1998/12/cov_07feature.htm
OR
Roger W. Lotchin, Fortress California, 1910-1961: From Warfare to Welfare (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1992).

Timothy J. Gilfoyle, "White Cities, Linguistic Turns, and Disneylands: Recent Paradigms in Urban History," Reviews in American History, 26 (March 1998): 175-204; reprinted in Louis P. Masur, ed. The Challenge of American History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1999), 175-204.

Movie: Bladerunner (1991).

DISCUSSIONS AND CRITICAL READING

Discussion and class participation is an important part of student evaluation (25 percent). Incisive, imaginative and thoughtful comments that generate and facilitate discussion are weighed heavily in final grades. Asking questions, responding to student questions and contributing to an ongoing discussion are a necessary part of the learning experience. Failure to speak in class only lowers a student's final grade. Discussions take place in every class period, each worth 2 "points." Students will receive 0 points for nonparticipation, 1 point for minimal participation, and 2 points for active participation. Students who raise questions that generate discussion will earn extra points.

The best ways to prepare for and contribute to class discussion are: 1) complete the reading on time, and 2) critically analyze the reading. The primary goal of critical reading is to find the author's interpretation and what evidence and influences led to that conclusion. Never assume a "passive" position when reading a text. If students ask and attempt to answer the following questions, they will more fully comprehend and understand any reading.

1. What is the thesis of the author?

2. Does the author have a particular stated or unstated point of view? How does the author construct their argument? Are the author's goals, viewpoints, or agendas revealed in the introduction or preface? Does the author provide evidence to support the argument? Is it the right evidence? In the final analysis, do you think the author proves the argument or does the author rely on preconceived views or personal ideology? Why do you think that?

3. Does the author have a moral or political posture? Is it made explicit or implicit in the way the story is told? What is the author's view of human nature? Does change come from human agency and "free will" or broad socio-economic forces?

4. What assumptions does the author hold about society? Does the author see society as hierarchical, pluralistic, democratic or elitist? Does the author present convincing evidence to support this view?

5. How is the narrative constructed or organized? Does the author present the story from the viewpoint of a certain character or group? Why does the author begin and end at certain points? Is the story one of progress or decline? Why does the author write this way?

6. What issues and events does the author ignore? Why? Can you think of alternative interpretations or stories that might present a different interpretation? Why does the author ignore certain events or facts?

ORAL REPORTS

The oral report constitutes 25 percent of the final grade. The purpose of the assignment is to facilitate and broaden class discussion by comparing another historical writing with the required class reading. Each week, one student will be responsible for reading and reporting on a selection of articles and/or books. The oral report should: 1) BRIEFLY summarize the author's thesis, and 2) critically examine the sources, methodology, and strengths and weaknesses of the thesis or theses, and 3) compare the work or works to the required reading for that week. The questions employed in the critical reading section above should be applied to in the oral report assignment. Students will present the report in the beginning or early in the class, whenever it facilitates discussion. The report should take approximately 10 to 15 minutes. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THE REPORT EXCEED 15 MINUTES. Oral report assignments will be made in the introductory class.

ESSAYS

The essay requirement serves several purposes. First, good, thoughtful writing disciplines and educates the mind. To write well, one must think well. If one's writing improves, so does their thinking and intelligence. Second, students personally experience on a first-hand basis some form of historical writing. A research paper relying on primary sources exposes students to the challenges, difficulties and even contradictions of analyzing historical events. Ideally, students will think more "historically" as a result of the exercise. Third, the essay can later function as a writing sample for students applying for future employment positions as well as to graduate or professional school.

Two types of long essays are acceptable for this course: research and historiographical. Research essays analyze a specific topic using primary or original sources. Examples of primary sources include (but are not limited to) newspapers, diaries, letters, oral interviews, books published during the period under study, manuscript collections, and old maps. A research essay relies on source material produced by the subject or by institutions and individuals associated in some capacity with the subject. The use and immersion of the writer/researcher in such primary and original sources is often labelled "doing history." Most of the articles and books assigned for class discussion represent this type of historical writing.

Historiographical essays are based upon at least ten different secondary sources, or what historians have written about a subject. Such a paper examines how historians' interpretations have differed and evolved over time regarding a specific topic or theme. The major focus of a historiographical essay are the ideas of historians, how they compare with each other and how they have changed over time. Examples and models for such essays can be found in the following collections:

Louis Masur, ed., The Challenge of American History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1999); originally Reviews in American History, vol. 26, no. 1 (March 1998).

Eric Foner, ed., The New American History (Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1990), especially essays in part II.

Both types of assignments should be the length of a standard scholarly article (approximately 15-20 typewritten pages of text, plus notes). Students should select a topic as soon as possible, in consultation with the instructor. A preliminary bibliography which includes books, articles, oral interviews, or other possible sources should be completed and handed in by 2 p.m., Wednesday, 22 Sept. 1999.

All essays should be typed. Students who complete the essay early have the option to rewrite the paper upon its evaluation and return (remember - the only good writing is good rewriting). For students who wish to have the option of rewriting the essay, TWO copies of the first draft of the essay should be in the professor's possession by 2 p.m., Wednesday, 3 November 1999. All other and rewritten essays are due at the final class meeting on 1 December 1999. On both dates, students should submit TWO copies of the essay. Students who rewrite the essay should also include the corrected first draft.

All final papers should be free of typographical errors, misspellings and grammatical miscues. For every eight such mistakes, the essay's grade will be reduced by a fraction (A to A-, A- to B+, etc.). Essays are to be written for this class ONLY. No essay used to fulfill the requirements of a past or current course may be submitted. Failure to follow this rule will result in an automatic grade of F for the assignment. Extensions are granted automatically. However, grades on essays handed in 48 hours (or more late) will be reduced by a fraction (A to A-, A- to B+, etc.). Every three days thereafter another fraction will be dropped from the paper's final grade.

Students in search of a paper topic can begin their investigation with a cursory reading of any published overview on urban history. Examples include:

Raymond Mohl, ed. The Making of Urban America, second edition (Wilmington, Del.: SR Books, 1997).

Eric H. Monkkonen, America Becomes Urban: The Development of U.S. Cities and Towns, 1780-1980 (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1988).

John Reps, The Making of Urban America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965).

Sam Bass Warner, Jr., The Urban Wilderness: A History of the American City (New York: Harper and Row, 1972)

The following journals are also useful: Journal of Urban History, Urban History Yearbook, Urban Affairs Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, and Journal of Social History.