The Rise and Fall of the American Century: Fall (315-2-20)

Instructors

Michael J. Allen
847/467-3979
Harris Hall - Room 342

Meeting Info

University Hall 121: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course examines the recent past that most U.S. history courses never get around to discussing, the years between 1968 and 2016, when the institutions, structures, practices, and ideas that governed the United States and the world since the 1930s came undone and collapsed. The second half of a two-quarter sequence titled "The Rise and Fall of the American Century," it surveys the erosion in systems of centralized coordination and command that were created during and after World War II to explain rising inequality, mass migrations, globalization, political extremism, and the end of the Cold War, along with social isolation and atomization. Rather than seek monocausal explanations for such things, it connects political and economic changes to social and cultural shifts to explain how the past gave rise to the present. It begins with Richard Nixon's efforts to salvage U.S. power during the Vietnam War and ends with Donald Trump's attempt to make America great again only to hasten the end of the American Century.

In addition to its topical and analytical concerns, the course considers the challenges and rewards of studying the recent past. It relies on primary sources more than published history and offers students an opportunity to write a short original research paper on a subject of their choice. Prior collegiate or AP coursework in modern U.S. and/or world history will be helpful to your understanding of course materials but is not required nor necessary.

Learning Objectives

• Read, analyze, and evaluate primary source materials to become familiar with how diverse groups experienced and participated in political, social, and economic developments since 1968, and learn to use variation, repetition, consonance, and disagreement within such source materials to interrogate and explain change and continuity over time.
• Read, analyze, and evaluate varied secondary sources that offer scholarly interpretations of key questions in the history of the United States since 1968, thereby developing proficiency in historical argument, documentation, and debate.
• Engage in reasoned, respectful, evidence-based discussion and debate with other interpreters of history in verbal and written forms. • Analyze, synthesize, and organize varied source materials into accurate and persuasive verbal and written arguments in answer to historical questions.
• Gain foundational knowledge of the political, social, cultural, intellectual, and technological forces that shaped life in the United States after 1968, and learn how they interacted across time and space to shape American and world history.

Evaluation Method

Participation: 15% / Short Reading Responses: 20% / Film Paper: 20% / Research Paper: 25% / Final Exam: 20%

Class Notes

History Major Concentration(s): Americas
History Minor Concentration(s): United States

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
SoC Individual and Social Behavior Distro

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Antirequisite: Students who completed HISTORY 315-3 cannot take HISTORY 315-2.

Associated Classes

DIS - University Hall 312: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - University Hall 218: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM

DIS - University Hall 118: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM