Course Introduction

The Development of American Urban Society offers a thematic and chronological overview of the development of cities and urban society in North America from the early modern era to the present. Toward that end, we examine both the factors that stimulated and shaped urban development and the impact of urbanization during a critical period in the history of American, and Western, civilization. Of principal concern are the consequences of urban life and the configurations of social and spatial forms as they differed by time, place, class, ethnic group, race, and gender. In part, we seek to understand the social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of a set of the most significant changes that have transformed society over the past several centuries; in part, we seek to understand better the causes of our own contemporary "urban crisis" and the future(s) that lurk beyond it. Thus, we focus on such topics as urban societies, spatial organization, migration, urban systems, city life and cultural styles, technology and communications, and the tensions between forces of centralization and decentralization. Special attention is given to United States developments, but within a comparative North American and Western European perspective, and to the period from the mid-eighteenth through the late-twentieth centuries.

Requirements:

Regular reading, attendance, and class participation; a book review essay; a final-reflections research essay.

Reading:

David Goldfield and Blaine Brownell, Urban America: A History. 2nd ed. Houghton, Mifflin, 1990.

Stephan Thernstrom, Poverty and Progress. Harvard, 1964.

Sam Bass Warner, Jr., Streetcar Suburbs. Harvard, 1962.

Judith Smith, Family Connections. SUNY Press, 1985.

Kenneth Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape. Illinois, 1976.

Jon Teaford, The Twentieth-Century American City. 2nd ed. Johns Hopkins, 1993.

Recommended for Purchase, but Optional:

Paul Hohenberg and Lynn Lees, The Making of Urban Europe, 1000-1994. Revised edition. Harvard, 1995.

Neil Stout, Getting the Most Out of Your U.S. History Course. DC Heath, 1990

Other readings are available at the Reserve Desk of the Library; they are marked with an * on the syllabus.

Syllabus

Week 1. Introduction. Understanding the City: Past, Present, and Future

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, Introduction.
  Optional:
• *Eric Lampard, "Urbanization and Social Change," in The Historian and the City, ed. Oscar Handlin and John Borchart (MIT Press, 1963), 225-247.
• *Roy Lubove, "The Urbanization Process," Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 33 (1967), 33-39.
• *Theodore Hershberg, "The New Urban History," Journal of Urban History, 5 (1978), 3-40.
• Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (55 mins.)

Week 2. The European Urban Renaissance

• [Optional] Hohenberg and Lees, The Making of Urban Europe, Pts I & II, pp. 1-171.

Week 3. The Coming of Cities and Towns to North America

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, Chs. 1-2.
• Review essays assigned

Week 4. Eighteenth-Century Cites: Prelude to Modernity

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, Chs. 2-4.
• *[Optional] Gary Nash, The Urban Crucible. Harvard, 1979.

Week 5. Urban Visions/Urban Realities

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, Chs. 4-6.
• Slide/Tape: Daughters of Free Men (30 mins).

Week 6. Migration, Economic Development, and City Life

• Stephan Thernstrom, Poverty and Progress.
• *Lynn Lees and John Modell, "The Irish Countryman Urbanized," Journal of Urban History, 3 (1977), 391-408.

Week 7. Urban Reform and Urban Institutions

• *Michael B. Katz, "The Origins of Public Education," History of Education Quarterly, 16 (1976), 381-408.
• *_____, "Origins of the Institutional State," Marxist Perspectives, 1 (1978), 6-23.
• *John T. Cumbler, "The City and Community," Journal of Urban History, 3 (1977), 427-442.
• Slide/Tape: The Five Points (30 mins.)
• Book Review Essays Due: Mon., Oct. 21

Week 8. Urban Identity, Politics, and Conflict

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, chs. 7-8.
• *Michael Frisch, "The Community Elite and the Emergence of Urban Politics," in Nineteenth-Century Cities, ed. Stephan Thernstrom and Richard Sennett (Yale, 1969), 277-296.
• *Sam Bass Warner, Jr., The Private City (Pennsylvania, 1968), 79-98, 99-124.
• *Melvin G. Holli, "Varieties of Urban Reform," in American Urban History, 2nd ed., ed. Alexander Callow (Oxford, 1973), 249-264.
• Film: The City, 1939 (45 mins.)

Week 9. Family, Classes, and Cultures in the City

• *Mary Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class (Cambridge, 1981), Chs. 4-5.
• *Christine Stansell, "Women, Children, and the Uses of the Streets: Class and Gender Conflict in New York City, 1850-1860," Feminist Studies, 8 (1982), 309-335.
• *Elizabeth Pleck, "A Mother's Wages," in The American Family, 2nd ed., Michael Gordon (St. Martins, 1978), 490-510.
• *Tamara Hareven, "The Dynamics of Kin," in Turning Points, ed. John Demos and Sarane Boocock (Chicago, 1978), 151-181.

Week 10. Urban and Sub-Urban Space

• Sam Bass Warner,Jr., Streetcar Suburbs.
• Film: Suburbs: Arcadia for Everyone (55 mins.)
• Research Essays Assigned

Week 11. City Centralization and Decentralization: The Turn of the Century

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, Chs. 8-11.
• Jon Teaford, The Twentieth-Century American City, Chs. 1-3.
• *Samuel P. Hays, "The Changing Political Structure of the City," in Hays, American Political History as Social Analysis (Tennessee, 1980), 326-356.
• Film: Proud Towers (55 mins.)

Week 12. "New" Immigration/"New" Urbanization

• Judith Smith, Family Connections.
• Film: Mission Hill and the Miracle of Boston (60 mins.)

Week 13. The Urbanization of Black Americans

• Kenneth Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape.
• Film: Dallas at the Crossroads or Goin' to Chicago

Week 14. The Present and the Future of the City: Crises, Fears, Hopes

• Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America, Chs. 11-13.
• Teaford, Twentieth-Century American City, Chs. 4-7.
• *Optional: H.J. Dyos, "Some Historical Reflections on the Quality of Urban Life," Urban Affairs Annual Review, 3 (1969), 31-60.
• Video: Saving the Cities(30 min.)/City as Enterprise (15 min.)

Assignment I: Critical Book Review Essays

The first piece of required written work for this course is a critical book review of a scholarly, book-length study in American urban history. By critical, I do not mean only or even primarily negative or fault-finding in tone; rather, critical refers to a thoughtful and serious, balanced effort to evaluate--on the basis of what you are now learning--the strengths and weaknesses of the book chosen for the essay.

Reviews are to be written about ONE book only. The choice is YOURS. Begin with the bibliographies in the required readings, especially the ones in Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America and Teaford, Twentieth-Century American City to see the range of possible choices and to focus your own interests. I also suggest that you locate the appropriate shelves of the UTD (or other major) Library and browse for titles that catch your attention. The book chosen should fall within the terms--by time, place, general topic, etc.--of the course and should be scholarly, rather than popular or journalistic in tone, intent, research, approach, and the like. I ask that all books be presented to me for MY APPROVAL (a simple nod of the head) BEFORE you begin to write your review essay.

The book review, in the form of an essay, should discuss the volume selected in explicit reference to the themes and questions of the course: including lectures, readings, discussion, films. Those elements, as well as your own judgment, form the basis of your critical evaluation of the research conducted and reported in your book.

Review should be approximately five (5) pages in length, double-spaced, and type-written. Please put the complete bibliographic information for your volume at the beginning of your essay. Turn in the essays with the pages stapled and without any cover or folder. Write in nonsexist, gender-neutral language.

The none of the essays will be accepted late, unless prior permission is given or very special circumstances arise.

Note: plagiarism will result automatically in failure.

Second Assignment: Reflections/Research Essays

The second piece of required written work for this course is an essay of approximately 10 pages (type-written and double-spaced) in response to one of the following questions/topics:

1. Numerous factors, large and small, have been presented during the course as explanations of the circumstances and patterns of urban development in the United States during the past three and more centuries. In an essay, select a small number of those factors (perhaps 3-5) that you consider among the most important. Present and evaluate their role(s) comparatively, in reference to each other, in presenting your own assessment of the course of urban development.

2. It is often said, today but earlier too, that the "quality of urban life" has declined during the past few decades. Evaluate this contention from the basis of your understanding of city life during the past three centuries. Consider continuities as well as changes, and both over time and in variations between places. Be comparative as to time and place and determinants/aspects of "quality of life."

3. There is much speculation about the future of urban life and of urban forms as we have known them, today. Consider the question of the "future of the city" in an essay, from your understanding of the dynamics of urban changes and continuities. In other words, what can we learn from history to better our understanding of the present and of possible or alternative futures of cities in the advanced areas of the world? Be historical and comparative in your reflections.

4. Choose an aspect of the history of the city of Dallas and present a research paper on that subject. Students choosing this option will need to confer with the instructor and also visit research collections such as the Dallas Historical Society and the Dallas Public Library. Before choosing a topic: 1) see me; 2) have a look at Harvey J. Graff, et al., Dallas, Texas: A Guide to the Sources of its Social History, to 1930 (University of Texas Press, 1979), in the UTD Library.

All papers should attempt to draw from and draw together some of the many diverse threads of the course. Select from ALL course materials, as necessary, and also be prepared--if you wish or find it necessary--to supplement class materials with library research. I will offer suggestions when asked. Papers should be written in the form of research papers: with clear statement and development of arguments and themes, and their support in notes and bibliography. No folders or covers. Write in nonsexist, gender-neutral language. Once again: plagiarism will result automatically in failure.